Monster 'Man'
by Aaron Ledgers
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a girl who could make anyone feel safe by merely looking at them... a girl with a smile so gentle that it could stir even the coldest hearts. However, she no longer exists... a fire destroyed her: in her place is an antisocial 'boy' who just transferred into Ouran High. Can the members of the Host Club get her to open up, or will her bitterness remain?
1. Prologue: Scarface

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC or any of the things originally within the story.**

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**Monster 'Man'**

Written by Aaron Ledgers  
Dedicated to Saelind, the heroine of this tale

This is very loosely based on a true story about my best friend: please be gentle, because some of the events you're about to read really happened.  
**Aside from, you know, the part where Sael-chan meets the host club. Lmao.**

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**Prologue: Scarface!**

Incomprehensible babbling... traffic... and the endless sound of shoes against the pavement: those three elements had become the center of her world.

Saelind irritably tried to stop glaring at the faces towering above her as she walked along the crowded streets, but all of the gawking stares were seriously getting under her skin. She didn't like being stared at by people, especially since she'd gone through so much trouble selecting her clothes to hide her body for that very reason. When a fat Asian man rudely shoved her aside without even bothering to apologize, however, the skinny girl twisted her body and tripped him without breaking stride. The man slowly got to his knees and turned to let out a snapping complaint, but Saelind merely turned her head and silently threatened him with a glare.

He froze like a mouse under a cat's claws; then he simply got up and hurried away.

Apparently, he was already aware that there was no point in complaining about a bruise to a person like her, which had saved Saelind some trouble.

The girl shook her head in disgust before withdrawing deeper into her hood, slowly lifting her arms and staring at the sleeves that hung off her hands in an almost ridiculous manner. A glimmer of her barely-visible aquamarine eye shifted through her dark hair as she stared at herself with hatred: she had gone through all the trouble of choosing her clothes to hide herself from everyone at her new school... but she had been horrified upon going inside.

It was a Private Academy... and not only that, but an Academy with a completely _horrible_ uniform selection.

She'd been told on her first day that instead of wearing some casual clothes like she'd been expecting, she would have to wear the standard girl's uniform, which was really nothing more than a dress with anciently-styled puffed sleeves... and to her utter disgust, it was the most _revolting_ shade of yellow she'd ever seen. She'd already lied to the school and told her superiors she couldn't afford it: they'd let her off easy, and told her that she could continue wearing her casual clothes until she could afford a proper uniform.

In truth, the outfit went hand in hand with all of the horrid frills that went along with being a 'cutesy' little Asian girl.

Unfortunately, she wasn't cute... nor was she Asian, or really anything like the girls in her new school: she didn't even have a Japanese heritage, since she was literally one-percent Korean and ninety-nine percent Russian all the way through. Back before the fire, she'd had extremely pale skin, rippling blue-green eyes, and somewhat pretty features: a typical teenage girl, really. In truth, she'd have looked like any other Caucasian female if it hadn't been for the shape of her eyes... they'd made her face look exceedingly exotic.

As a result of the unique way they'd slanted, her eyes had soothed other people no matter how she'd looked at them, angry or not.

That had been a long time ago, though... an unreachable past.

The New Saelind was a monster who horrified everyone she looked at: that's why she had hidden herself.

The day she'd transferred into Ouran High School, hushed murmurs had erupted down the hallways: however, unlike everyone around her, she had been wearing an enormously baggy green sweatshirt that ended just below her knees, and a pair of overly large blue jeans that crumpled near her ankles. Despite her absurdly tiny physique, her hood had been pulled so far over her head that nobody had been able to see her face clearly.

Then, much to her dismay, a girl had walked up to Saelind with a friendly smile and set a hand on her shoulder.

And, like she always did whenever someone touched her, she'd hissed like a snake and slapped the girl's hand away with all of her strength.

Then she had lifted her head, looked right at the offending Asian girl, and practically spat the words she'd wanted everyone hear.

"Don't touch me," she'd hissed, glaring into the girl's eyes. "Ever. I swear to god I'll bite your fingers off if you put your hands on me again!"

And with that, she had grumpily shoved past the offender and continued on her way. Dead silence had immediately reigned free, since a terrified 'popular' girl had been left in her wake. She'd slowly sank down to her knees and hugged herself with shaking arms. When her friends came rushing over and fretted over her bruising hand, she didn't even notice: her brown eyes had gone blank with horror.

"His face!" she'd whispered, slowly bringing her hands up and shakily covering her mouth. "His face... it's gone! He's a _monster!"_

And that is how, in all honesty, Saelind's odd reputation as the 'Monster Man' had been born.

Which pissed her off in two ways, since everyone had apparently mistaken her as a boy: she wasn't pretty, but she sure as hell wasn't _that_ ugly!

When she finally stopped in front of her empty apartment, the shadowed teenager struggled to move her legs in order to head inside.

However, she couldn't seem to make her feet budge: she was reluctant to go into the empty void that claimed her hours after school, because her home merely made her realize that much further how alone she was... made her realize that there would never be anybody waiting for her. As she stood there in front of her apartment door, struggling to move, a woman with reddish brown hair noticed her rigid posture and stopped on her way into the extravagant building just next door.

For several moments, she merely stared at Saelind.

"Did you get locked out?" the woman finally called in a shockingly manly voice, making Saelind jump and whirl to face her. "If you did, you're welcome to stay at my place until your parents get back... after all, we neighbors have to be courteous to each other, right?"

Saelind opened her mouth to snap at her, to tell her not to butt in, but the woman was already grabbing her hand and dragging her away.

This was the biggest reason why she hated being so small: anybody could manhandle her and she was helpless to do anything. The woman pulled her up a flight of stairs and gently unlocked the door to her old-fashioned Japanese suite before pulling the hooded girl inside and closing it; Saelind merely stood there with her head lowered and her fists clenched, muscles shaking with barely concealed anger. Apparently, the woman mistook her rage at being manhandled for fear, since she glanced at her quivering body and covered her mouth in a motherly manner.

"Don't worry," the woman drawled in a manly tone, patting her head without noticing how she recoiled away. "I'm sure your parents will come home soon."

When she pattered off into another room and sat down, Saelind merely stood where she was, mouth twisting up in hatred.

"Parents?" she inaudibly sneered, feeling the urge to break something. "Good one."

She instantly shook her head and wiped her stinging eyes: she didn't even want to _start_ thinking about that; she didn't want to remember why she'd ended up living all alone in a dingy one-room apartment halfway around the world. She didn't want to remember why she'd been sent to live alone in a foreign country by herself. However, her reality was impossible to hide from: the reason for this change had been permanently etched onto her face.

Her father had walked out on their family after the accident had destroyed her looks, and her mother had purposely sent her away.

After a moment of standing in the middle of the stranger's entryway, calming down her anger, Saelind slowly moved forward until she'd made it to the nearest chair: the woman had already flopped down on the couch and flicked on the enormous flat screen. She was currently watching a soap opera with a fairly bored expression. After a moment, however, Saelind narrowed her eye and looked closer when she noticed a gray area on the woman's chin.

_Facial hair? _she abruptly wondered, blinking in confusion when the woman scratched her chin with a yawn. _No way... I'm seeing things._

However, for the first time in a long while, the girl very nearly jumped out of her own skin since the woman actually pulled her hair off with a sigh.

"_Holy sh_—!" She squeaked, flinching backwards in shock. "I… I-I… um, I'm, uh...! I'm, uh—!"

"Yeah, I know," the drag-queen sighed nonchalantly, rubbing a cloth over his make-up dabbed eyes with a sigh. "I get those reactions a lot."

Saelind chose not to make a comment, since she was sure the words that came out of her mouth would have been less than pleasant.

However, when she sat down and shrugged her backpack off, he... she... _it_ glanced at her, so she purposely lowered her head.

For several moments, she sorted out the schoolwork she'd ignored in class... but then she flipped open her textbook and started working on it.

Ever since the accident, she'd been having issues with not being able to concentrate around other people, so she'd come up with an ingenious strategy to get out of doing her work in school: she would simply daydream until class was over, then walk up to the teacher and ask him or her for everything she needed to complete the work outside of school. As a result, she'd gotten past her issues with socializing and getting called on in class.

"Is that a calculus worksheet?" the drag queen suddenly asked, taking note of her high school textbooks with raised eyebrows. "Wait... how old _are_ you?"

For a long moment, the girl's fingers froze: there was a lengthy pause for several minutes afterwards, broken only by the sound of the television.

"I'm Fifteen," Saelind finally muttered, scowling at the sound of her own high-pitched voice. "I'll be sixteen in two months."

"You're the same age as my daughter!" the man gasped, eyes lighting up in surprise. "That's kind of shocking, though... when I first saw you, I actually thought you were in elementary school because of how small you were! That's why I got nervous and brought you in here... this isn't exactly the safest neighborhood in the world, so I apologize if I upset you or made you feel uncomfortable. It's a mother thing, you know?"

"No," the girl bluntly retorted, sliding the sleeve covering her right hand up and revealing her small white fingers, "so I won't pretend that I do. And anyway, only _women_ can be mothers."

Her response elicited a startled silence from the man.

"Well, if you say so," he finally sighed, flopping back down with a sigh. "Haru-chan is probably going to come home around dinner time."

Saelind, however, was too busy scrawling down the answers to her math problems to care.

She was getting her work done at an abnormally rapid pace since everything she'd been given was absurdly easy. The girl had personally asked her teacher for an advanced form of math since he'd been teaching things that were already well beneath her level of skill. Her instructor had looked highly offended when Saelind had calmly informed him that he was teaching stuff that kindergarteners could figure out, but it was the truth: the differences in Japanese schools and Russian schools were incredibly vast.

All of the stuff her new Japanese high school was 'teaching' would have been considered Elementary back in Moscow.

Her level of study was already college level in Japan since the educational expectation was a _lot_ lower there than it was in Russia.

Everything that Saelind had been taught back home was something that everybody had to know in order to survive: it was common knowledge. However, in Japan, her intelligence was extremely advanced compared to the people around her as a result of the different cultures. On top of that, she had no language barrier since she'd been raised in a family that constantly spoke in English, Russian, _and_ Japanese: to put it simply, she already felt as though she were surrounded by a bunch of idiots.

"Hmm... not good," the drag queen suddenly muttered, lifting a finger and tapping his chin. "I forgot that Haruhi has a job to do with that club of hers, so she won't be back until much later. I wonder what I should order for dinner tonight? Chicken wings or pizza?"

Saelind's hand froze and she instantly grimaced in disgust.

"Neither is healthy for you," the girl muttered without thinking; however, she winced at her own stupidity when the man blinked at her. "What? It's true: the companies who run those types of restaurants load their food with ingredients that aren't good for the body. Some companies even add a highly addictive chemical that can cause a minor withdrawal... it's a chemical that makes your body crave their food."

"EH?! No way!" the man squealed, sitting up with a startled expression. "Are you serious?! Why have I never heard about that?!"

"How the hell should I know? It's common knowledge all over the world," Saelind sourly explained, lifting her head and regarding him with a half-hidden teal eye. "Ordering take out can even lead to health problems in the long run, depending on how much you eat. Once in a very long while is all right, I guess, since it'd be like going to a fancy store or eating unhealthy cakes... but doing it consistently isn't healthy for you at all."

"I never knew that! What should I do, then?!" the man asked, covering his mouth in horror; Saelind frowned at him, wondering if the man was really a parent like he'd claimed. He was acting more like a woman himself than a grown man, which was extremely weird to her. "My daughter loves pizza and take-out chicken wings, and I don't know how to cook! The last time I tried, I almost burned this apartment down!"

The drag queen looked at Saelind as though he expected her to have the answer.

"Learn how to cook," the girl suggested coldly, lowering her eyes down to her paper and finishing the last three problems. "That's all I can say."

"I can't do that in one night!" the man wailed, falling over and kicking his legs in horror. "I'd be a failure as a parent if I let my daughter eat food with _drugs_ in it, so what the heck can I do?! I don't know how to cook! Ahhhh! What am I gonna do about dinner tonight?!"

"Shut up already," Saelind finally hissed, snapping her book shut and ignoring how the man gawked at her in offense. "If it bothers you that much, I'll make something edible for you two to eat. It's really not that difficult, so please stop whining like a baby and act your age. Aren't you an adult?"

For several moments, the man's mouth hung open and he looked thunderstruck by her insulting demand.

"Thank you for the offer to make dinner tonight... I'll gladly accept it," the drag queen muttered, frowning at her in obvious offense. "However, that statement you just made was completely out of line. I'm going to inform your parents about it the moment they get home. That reminds me... when _are_ your parents getting home? I was so excited when I heard that a new family was moving in next door that I didn't sleep at all last night! I was kind of hoping to make friends with them."

Saelind froze where she was sitting and slowly seemed to turn to marble.

"Sorry to burst your bubble," the girl chuckled darkly, not lifting her head from her papers, "but those hopes of yours were meaningless. I don't _have_ parents, so the friends you were so eager to meet are never going to come. Not like it would matter even if they did... people like that are worthless."

With that, she stood up and shouldered her bag before heading for the doorway, leaving behind a gaping Asian man with stunned brown eyes.

"W-where are you going?" he demanded, looking at her with an uneasy expression.

"My apartment... and the store," the girl retorted, pausing with her hand on the knob. "I'm going to grab everything I need to make a proper meal since I don't feel comfortable using your belongings. Then I'm going to get all of the ingredients required to make a proper meal. End of story."

With that, she opened the door and stalked outside, wondering why she was bothering with such an annoying and creepy person in the first place.

Her first day as a freshman had been pretty uneventful aside from getting slapped across the face by a girly Asian boy, but the random students who had tried to become chummy with her had been properly warned away. She didn't want any false friends like the ones she'd had back in Russia... she had been popular all through junior high simply because she was pretty and rich. That was all: they'd never liked her for the kindness she'd shown.

However, Saelind hadn't cared about her appearance: in fact, most of the time, she'd been kind of oblivious to her looks.

The most she'd ever really done was brush her hair, and that was for reasons that she didn't really want to think about.

Even now, she didn't care... nor did she care about what people thought of the scars on her face. Aside from her burns, the color of her eyes, and her hair, everything about her was ordinary: her height didn't want to extend over the five-foot mark, so she was currently stuck being four feet and six inches tall. Her hair was the only interesting thing she had to offer in the way of appearances now... but she saw no point in showing it off since she didn't really like people.

And yes, that also included _male_ people: forget trying to find a boyfriend... in a school like hers, no decent guy would ever be hanging around since everyone was totally spoiled. She hated the fact that their lives were so easy, but even more than that, she hated that they took it for granted... as if it was their _right_ to be living in luxury.

It made her want to vomit.

After heading into the grocery store and grabbing everything she needed, the hooded girl stalked through the crowded sidewalks and went into her apartment for a skillet: the only items she personally owned were cooking-related, which was kind of a downer, but at the same time... she didn't care, since she didn't plan on staying after she graduated.

Once that was finished, she went next door and knocked on the entrance to drag queen's home.

"Come in!" he trilled in a singsong voice, making her wince. "I know it's you, kiddo!"

Saelind merely wrinkled her nose and opened the door before carefully bringing everything in.

She ignored the girly man's mesmerized stare in favor of bringing the bags into his kitchen and unloading them.

"When do you think your daughter will be home?" the small girl demanded, not turning around. "I need a time frame in order to start this."

"She'll be back around seven tonight," the man explained, blinking in surprise. "I think it's time we introduce ourselves, though... my name is Ryoji Fujioka, but you can call me Ranka since I don't like being addressed with my given name! It makes me feel like an old man! What's your name?"

"Saelind Heseroph," the skinny girl curtly retorted, already turning the stove on and oiling the skillet. "This should take about an hour to make properly, so it should be done by the time your daughter gets home. After that, I'm going home."

"Aw... aren't you going to stay for dinner?" Ranka asked, frowning at the girl when her muscles tensed. "Come on, I'd feel bad if you didn't."

"Fine," she muttered, mouth pressing into a flat line. "In return, don't ever bother me again. Please."

Another long silence ensued after her alarmingly cold statement.

The drag queen merely stared at her hooded back with furrowed brows, but Saelind was so lost in what she was doing that she didn't even notice when he left the room and flopped back down on the couch. The pale girl cooked and sauteed everything the way she'd been taught in order to make her father's famous stir fry turn out right, and by the time it hit six fifty eight, it was ready. When she walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the floor in the corner of Ranka's old-style living room, he blinked at her and got up, puttering off into the kitchen.

However, a disturbingly high-pitched shriek immediately split the air, making the girl jump.

"WOW!" Ranka shrieked, tearing out into the living room with stunned eyes. "Did you really make all that?!"

"Yes," Saelind curtly retorted, not lifting her head from her knees. "It's a simple dish, though... there's no need to get so worked up."

"Are you kidding?!" the man exclaimed, running back into the kitchen with a cry of delight. "Even with Haruhi's delicious cooking, the last time the two of us had a meal like this was ten years ago at a fancy dinner party! This is anything but simple, and on top of that it looks absolutely delicious! Where on earth did you learn how to make it?!"

Saelind didn't answer: she saw no point in disclosing anything about her father's culinary skills.

Or even the fact that her father was a famous chef who often appeared on television.

She sat in the corner for about ten minutes, listening to the sound of clanking dishes and silverware coming from the dining room nearby; however, she flinched when the man unexpectedly appeared out of nowhere and tapped her arm, letting out a serpentine hiss. Ranka immediately drew back and stared at her with a startled expression since seeing a teenage girl hiss like an animal was extremely uncommon.

"Don't touch me," Saelind hissed, speaking in an extremely low voice. "I don't like being touched... ever."

"Well, if you say so," the drag queen mumbled, staring at her with a wary expression. "I was only going to tell you that the table is ready."

"Then say so without touching me," she muttered, getting to her feet with an irritated posture; the man followed her path with his eyes, looking somewhat disturbed and confused by her personality. After a moment, he followed her into the dining room and watched as she gripped the plate he'd set and switched it over to the farthest edge of the table: he furrowed her brows when she folded her hands and murmured, "_Blagodarnost' za yedoy._"

"What did you just say?" Ranka asked, taking a seat as well and watching as she popped a mouthful of food into her hood. "I didn't understand it."

"It was Russian," Saelind absently explained, speaking in a monotonous deadpan. "It's an honorary way of giving thanks. It's similar to the custom that people here in Japan have... you know, how they say a little thanks before they eat? You could say it's our version of that."

"Oh, so you're from Russia?" Ranka asked, winding some of the stir-fry around his fork before popping it into his mouth; the man's eyes instantly went blank since an explosion of delicious flavor rocketed into his nerves. For the first time in his entire life, Ranka almost broke down and cried after having one taste of food: it was so shocking to him that he didn't even know what to do. "Dear Lord... this is... wow! It's amazing!"

Saelind merely ate in silence, refusing to acknowledge his enthusiasm.

She had always been like this, though, even at her previous school. In class, the teachers had never called on her: they'd acted as though they couldn't see her. At lunch, she'd practically vanished from the world after slipping into the hallways: nobody ever really paid attention to her unless a new rumor had spread. After school, she'd always sat on the steps out front, waiting for someone... anyone... to come rescue her.

Rumors upon rumors had flooded around the longer she'd stayed at her last school, ensnaring her...

_**"Oh, my God! Carlisle, look at her face! I can't tutor that child!"**_

Tormenting her...

_**"She's a freak, so don't hang out with her during lunch: I heard from Maria that her face is all messed up because she tried to burn some guy to death with a tank of gasoline! Stay away from the burned girl unless you want her to go psycho on you!"**_

Twisting her...

_**"Why does that girl even go to class? She never talks, she never moves, she just sits there and stares at her textbook cover for hours without moving a muscle. It's actually very disturbing, and several of her classmates have already complained that they can't focus when she's in the room. Can't we put a cubicle in the corner so the other students can study better?"**_

And breaking her.

Even though she'd done her best to fade away into the shadows, the few who noticed were never nice: she had been perpetually branded as an outcast.

This hadn't always been the case, though... shockingly enough, there had once been a time when Saelind had been the most loving and tender-hearted girl for miles around. A long time ago, her former self had given her things to people more in need of them... she had been recklessly kind and had always believed that, when the time came, someone would be there... anyone.

But no one had come.

In her darkest hour, not a single person came to help her... and the kindness in her heart shattered with the cold reality that she was alone. A reality that came with pain that had etched itself so deep into her subconscious that no amount of love could ever heal it. Because that time had been crucial: she had finally stretched out her hands for someone, anyone, to help her the way she'd done for them... but what she'd gotten instead was an unending chain of cruelty. Unlike the physical injuries she'd sustained, these had come after the burns had been inflicted on her.

She'd loved them, trusted them, did everything she could to help them, and in the end... she was trash. Filth.

Nothing.

Once Saelind had realized that she was completely alone, the darkness that filled her soul was so black that it had nearly crushed her. She'd felt as though she hadn't been able to breathe... as though she'd fallen beneath an ocean of shadows... and her kind expression had gone dark. Had stayed dark, even when months began to pass and people once again started needing her help and comfort.

However, the girl they'd been looking for had been destroyed.

They had come, one after the other, only to find not the loving girl that had always been there to make people feel better... but a frigid young woman who's undamaged eye was so cold that her glare shot clean down into the soul. She had been left alone in the dark... alone, unloved, harassed... and because of it, her heart had shattered like a mirror in the face of the world's hate.

During the time when everyone had turned their backs on her, Saelind had forced herself to become empty... she had become a living doll in order to endure the pain of being alone... but there had been no escaping. The darkness had never truly faded: it had merely filled the emptiness she'd created, eating at the pieces of her heart from the inside. It had turned her so bitter and angry that she now wanted to loathe the world instead of love it.

And so, she had returned the feelings of suffering that had been inflicted upon her by doing the same thing to everyone who'd needed her.

She had left all of the people who'd truly needed help to face their agonies alone.

After all, Karma was the biggest bitch in the world... although, Saelind was well on her way to catching up to it.

The girl was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the front door opening.

"Dad? I'm home... Tamaki-senpai threw an entire dance for the girls at the Host Club on top of the normal activities, so that's why I'm a bit late," a tired voice called, letting out a groan before the footsteps paused. "Hey, something smells really good! Did you order fancy food? Oh, never mind... you won't believe what happened at school today, though! Some new kid smacked Renge, and I ended up getting detention for slapping him back! Can you believe that?! The jerk smacked a girl and got off free!"

"Really?!" Ranka called, eyes widening in surprise; Saelind finished the last bit of her food and set her fork down just as a girlish boy with glossy brown hair walked into the dining room. He was wearing the standard navy school blazer for boys, as well as a red tie, and a pair of black school slacks. He had slender legs, large honey-brown eyes, and flawless skin.

"Yeah, really!" the boy sighed, hanging his coat on the rack without even glancing at the table. "He was really rude. Anyway, what's for dinner?"

"Oh, it's absolutely delicious!" the drag queen gushed, popping another bite into his mouth. "Our new neighbor made it for us!"

"Eh? What new neighbor?" the brunette asked, turning and glancing at the effeminate male for the first time; however, when his eyes flicked past his father and he noticed the figure in the green hoodie sitting at the end of the table, he gasped and dropped his bag. "No way... what's he doing here?!"

"What do you mean, Haruhi?" Ranka asked, frowning at him in confusion. "He's our new neighbor."

"Seriously?" Haruhi snorted, lifting his arm and pointing with half-lidded eyes. "Um, Dad? This kid is the same one I slapped. You sure he isn't a stalker?"

Saelind immediately stood up and slammed her fork down.

"Sorry, but who would even _want_ to stalk someone like _you?"_ the tiny girl hissed, lifting her head and glaring with a barely visible teal eye from within her shadowy hood. "I don't even want to be here, so I'm going home now. Enjoy your dinner... and please, tell this transvestite to leave me alone from now on."

With that, she swept towards their front door and left the room, not even noticing how Ranka glared at Haruhi.

"What got into him?" Haruhi wondered, blinking in confusion. "I was only kidding about the stalker thing."

"That wasn't very nice," the man stated in a soft tone, giving the brunette a reproachful glare. "He spent an hour doing this for us, you know..."

"So what?" Haruhi deadpanned, looking at her father with a disbelieving expression. "Like I said, I was only joking."

"He didn't see it that way, so I want you to apologize first thing tomorrow morning, young lady," the man retorted, making Haruhi turn pale. "Also... walk with him to school."

"Okay, fine," the girl-in-disguise sighed, looking totally baffled. "If you think I should, I will... but really. I wasn't serious."

"Once again: he obviously thought you were," Ranka firmly explained, getting up and bringing his plate into the kitchen. "Now... go to your room. What you just did was wrong."

"Yes, sir..." Haruhi mumbled, heading down the tiny hall and throwing her door open. "Wow... last time I got in trouble like this was... twelve years ago?"

However, when she sat down at her desk and started reaching for her lamp to turn it on, she noticed something strange about the window that had always been not even a meter away from her own. Because the buildings in her neighborhood were so close together, it wasn't all that shocking to find windows on opposite buildings facing each other.

In fact, a lot of people would sometimes open their windows and have conversations with each other.

The window across from her own had been dark for as long as she could remember, but now... a light was shining in another room. However, her eyes widened in horror and she ducked down when the hooded boy from earlier walked into the room: his shoulders were sagging and he looked completely worn out... but for the first time that day, he took his hood off. And the girl stared, not comprehending what she was really seeing.

From behind, all she could see of his head was a bulge of shiny black stuff.

Then he lifted his arms and took off his hoodie... and Haruhi's eyes widened in shock: the moment he pulled his baggy shirt off, his Jet black hair immediately slid down around shoulders and tumbled down to his thighs like a rippling waterfall. Tendrils of his beautiful hair slid against his pale skin as he moved over to the wall and slipped his shirt onto a coat rack. Then, he reluctantly pulled a yellow outfit out of a box and stared at it.

Haruhi watched with uneasy eyes: he was shirtless, but that had only revealed to her how small the kid really was.

He was abnormally slender... and on top of that, his proportions seemed to be a little underdeveloped: he looked younger than fifteen.

However, when he turned around and held the yellow outfit out, the girl twitched since she noticed it was a dress.

And not just any dress, but the Ouran Academy princess uniform for girls.

Then Haruhi saw 'his' chest and froze.

Apparently, the new kid wasn't exactly a boy like everyone thought because 'he' was wearing a bra.

However, then she caught sight of Saelind's face.

And froze.

The way her bangs had been styled did a damn good job of hiding it, but the new girl's face was covered in burn scars. And in truth, right then, Haruhi didn't even realize just how bad they were until the girl shifted her hair to the side and started brushing it. The entire left half of her body had been covered with this same scarred flesh: there wasn't an inch of her on that side that had been left unaffected.

Even her hand and arm had been burned.

"Oh, my god..." Haruhi whispered, slowly sliding down and pressing her back against the window sill. "What the heck happened to that girl?!"

However, because of the moment she'd chosen to turn away, Haruhi didn't see how Saelind stepped over to the corner and slid to the ground.

She didn't see it when she buried her face in her knees and curled up into a little ball.

She didn't see any of it.

And sadly, she didn't even want to.

Her life was hectic enough at school with the host club... but now, she had a feeling that her home life was about to get just as difficult.

"What a way to start a new week of school," Haruhi muttered, head thumping against the wall. "Yay."


	2. Chapter 1: The Lion and the Lamb

**Chapter One: The Lion and the Lamb  
**

The next morning, Haruhi ended up waiting for the new girl outside of her apartment door. She didn't want to do it, honestly: just the thought of hanging around with someone who might add more drama to her life made her feel tired, and plus, the girl was kind of mean. However, she didn't want to go alone and have her father find out about it, especially since he'd already taken Saelind's side for some strange reason.

So, here she was: pointedly waiting for the girl to wake up so they could leave together.

"How long has it been since I've walked with someone else?" Haruhi quietly mused. "Since middle school, at least."

It was true: it had been a very long time since Haruhi had walked to school with someone else, especially another girl, so she wasn't entirely sure what to do anymore. After glancing at the sky and judging the time by the light on the horizon, she realized it was almost six and lowered her eyes so they were hidden behind her glossy brown bangs.

"Why hasn't she come out yet?" she muttered, hopping from foot to foot. "If she sleeps any longer, I'll be late and Kyouya-sempai will add onto my debt! Is she even awake?"

Haruhi was unsatisfied by the chirping of a bird as an answer to that question. So, against her better judgement, she hurried down the stairs and ran back up into her own apartment before tearing across the tatami mats towards her bedroom. Then she grabbed the broom off the wall, opened her window, and stretched the handle across the gap: after several difficult attempts, she managed to open the sliding window in Saelind's apartment.

Her golden-brown eyes instantly lit up with triumph.

_All right, _she thought to herself, blinking a few times as she hefted her bag, _now all I need to do is hop over._

With that, she climbed onto the ledge of her window and jumped, easily sailing into the girl's apartment. After that, she dusted herself off and walked over to the front door, grimacing in disgust at how rundown the building was compared to her own: it was pretty unbelievable how one building could differ from the next, but hey... that was Japan for you.

Something caught her eye as she was passing by the bathroom.

On the floor was a magazine for hairstyles, and it had been opened to a specific page.

The girl instantly succumbed to temptation and picked it up, but she had to muffle a fit of laughter when she saw the main headline: '_square-cut bangs will give off a more gentle expression than the side sweep, which gives off an aura of loneliness. For any emo girl, the fluffy bangs are a no-go.'_

"Seriously?" Haruhi mused, snorting a little before she set the magazine back down. "I guess she _would_ be emo..."

"I'm not emo, thank you very much," a quiet voice hissed, making her freeze like a statue. "I simply don't enjoy socializing."

Shivering, the Asian brunette slowly turned around and twitched when she saw Saelind wearing the green hoodie from the previous afternoon. However, the girl's bangs had been greatly altered compared to the previous evening: she'd parted her hair in such a unique manner that the right side of her face had been left completely exposed, while the left side was hidden by the sweep of her hair. The girl's hair had somehow been looped under her left ear and tied in place to keep it from moving.

Even as Haruhi watched, the smaller girl pulled her hood up and her face practically vanished from sight.

It was an ingeniously fashionable way of keeping the visibility on her scars to a minimum.

However, Haruhi was still frozen: Saelind's slanted right eye was glaring blue-green daggers that cut right into her heart.

"Good morning to you, too," Haruhi deadpanned, keeping her expression blank. "We're going to be late if you don't hurry up."

"Get out of my home," the smaller girl stated coldly, not taking her eye off the brunette. "I never gave you permission to come in here. Leave."

"Sorry, but I can't," the taller girl bluntly retorted, giving an airy shrug. "Personally, I wouldn't have set foot in here if I'd had a choice, but my father is kind of pushy. Basically, he's forcing me to walk with you to school today: I'll get in trouble if I don't, so... here I am."

Saelind didn't respond, but her slanted eye did narrow a bit.

After a moment, however, she moved forward and slid around the brunette without speaking another word, calmly grabbing her bag and heading for the door. Haruhi sighed when she opened it and walked out, but she hefted her own bag and followed her, purposely keeping a careful distance.

_She's really, really small, _Haruhi noted, observing Saelind's frail build with unnerved eyes. _Even smaller than Honey-senpai.  
_

The two of them walked in silence for a long time, keeping a careful distance of fifteen feet between each other.

However, when a group of boys ran past Haruhi and practically trampled Saelind in their haste to get to school, one of them stopped and turned around to help her up. However, instead... he froze, because the girl's hood had been jerked off and her looping bangs had come loose as a result of his actions.

"Holy shit!" the boy cried, jerking his hand back with a disgusted expression. "What the heck is wrong with your face?! Nasty!"

"I suggest you get away from me," the black-haired girl retorted, getting to her feet and dusting off her jeans. "The only nasty person here is the one doing the finger-pointing."

"Excuse me?" the large boy snarled, clenching his fists; Haruhi froze, since the black-haired girl had literally just picked a fight with the most dangerous person in school: Genji Momozono, the son of a filthy rich mafia lord. "Take your diseased ass home, you little bitch!"

"In Russia, we speak with our actions," Saelind calmly retorted, fastening her hair back in place and pulling her hood up once again; then her aquamarine eye narrowed in a serious manner and she glared at the sleazy-looking boy. "If you intend to simply bark like a dog, this conversation is over: you don't deserve to call yourself a man if you can't do anything but spew insults at someone you don't even know."

"Are you picking a fight?" Genji demanded, narrowing his eyes and swaggering up with his chest puffed out. "Well, pipsqueak?"

"If the shoe fits," the black-haired girl retorted, sliding her foot back a little and bending her knees ever so slightly. "I'm warning you, though: size doesn't matter in a fight, and should you choose to pick one, I _will not _hold back."

Normally, nobody would have noticed the shift in the small girl's posture... but since Haruhi was watching her closely, she could see the almost graceful way her slender body had twisted. It was in that moment that she realized Saelind was serious.

"Hey, calm down!" she called, covering her mouth in horror. "Don't fight! It's against school rules!"

Her command went ignored; in fact, they didn't even seem to hear her.

"All right," Genji stated, nodding with a casual demeanor. "Well, little brat, you asked for it."

Then, completely going against his calm expression, he let out a cocky snarl and swung his fist without warning.

And just like that, Saelind slid under his arm like living water before gripping his wrist and jabbing his forearm seven times in a row; then she twisted it to the right and let him go, whirling away and sliding her foot back with her hands held out. Her face was completely calm, but Genji instantly let out a startled shout and cradled his twitching arm with a bright-red face. When he let it go, it dangled limply and his green eyes widened with horror.

"Freak!" the boy snapped, neck tensing up in fright. "What the hell did you just do to my arm?!"

"Muscle paralysis," the tiny girl explained, teal eye becoming colder than a shard of ice. "It's not permanent, but the effects will last all day and possibly tomorrow. Now, if you're through acting like a dog, I have classes to attend. Are you finished?"

"Screw you!" Genji roared, gripping his bag and bolting past his gawking buddies. "I won't let you get away with this!"

"All bark and no bite," Saelind muttered, slowly taking on a normal posture and dusting herself off a second time. "Typical testosterone-filled idiot."

After a moment, she properly adjusted her hood and hefted her school bag before continuing on her way.

Haruhi uncovered her mouth, heart thumping violently as she watched the dark-haired girl head toward the gates to their school.

"What in the world?!" she whispered quietly, hastening towards the front doors. "That was crazy..."

She followed Saelind into the crowd of students who were conversing with each other... but then, somehow, she managed to lose sight of the green-clad girl.

Although, that was simply because the transfer student had purposely ditched her. Saelind waited ten seconds in the entrance to the boy's bathroom before peering out into the crowded hall, then let out a sigh since the Asian girl was nowhere to be seen. She didn't like having anybody behind her.

"Finally," she muttered, closing her eyes. "That girl was getting on my nerves."

Saelind blinked when her phone suddenly buzzed: after a moment, she hesitantly pulled it out and looked at the Caller ID for the text.

Her face instantly twisted in dismay: her brother had sent her a message.

However, instead of reading it, she turned her phone off and dropped it back in the pocket of her jeans.

In order to start fresh, she couldn't be weighed down by anything from the past.

She looked around in blank confusion as the crowd of students moved through the grandiose hall like a living river of bodies

_Now, time to get to class,_ she silently grumbled, hefting her bag and moving into the throng. _Lord, don't let me get trampled... people don't seem to look where they're going half the time._

Her prayer went ignored in an almost blatant fashion: the moment she stepped out into the hallway, someone let out a yelp before slamming into her and the two of them went stumbling out of the throng; just when she thought she would crash face-first into the lockers, the boy gripped her arm and she tripped over the stuffed rabbit he dropped during the commotion.

The two of them spun around, lost their balance, and fell on top of each other.

Saelind, however, instantly hissed since the boy's elbow smashed into her right breast.

"OW!" the girl shrieked, clutching her chest and curling up into a ball. "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Ow!"

"That hurt!" the blonde boy whined, then lifted his hand and took a glance at it; his face instantly paled and he froze. "B-blood! I'm bleeding"

Everyone in the hallway stopped walking and backed off with gasps of alarm when they saw the two students sitting on the floor. It was also in that moment that Haruhi caught sight of the Russian girl, as well. The brunette gasped and her heart flipped, since Saelind was currently untangling her limbs from a small blonde boy.

"Oh, no..." Haruhi whispered, caramel face turning bone white. "Oh, dear... this isn't good."

By the time Saelind managed to push herself away from the blonde, she was immersed in checking the damage done to her body.

However, she didn't notice the way everyone around her was backing off.

"Ow..." she croaked, rolling her sleeve up and looking at her scraped arm; she instantly winced and swallowed. "Aw, crap... this is just perfect."

"B-blood!" the blonde boy wailed, breaking into hysterical tears. "I'm bleeding! I'm bleeding!"

Saelind's eye instantly twitched and she glared at him.

"Shut up!" the raven-haired girl snapped, making him jump and cry even harder. "If you had been watching where you were going, this wouldn't have happened."

"Takeshi!" the blonde cried, clutching his hand. "Takeshi! Takeshi!"

Haruhi paled when she heard the thudding footsteps.

Everyone in the hall instantly yelped and scrambled to get against the lockers.

The Japanese girl jumped when an enormous, hulking blur came roaring past her from behind.

"Oh, god!" she squawked, instantly flinging her arm out. "Mori-Sempai! Don't!"

It was too late.

Before Saelind could manage to get up, someone ripped the girl's hood off and grabbed her dark hair.

She squeaked like a mouse and flailed around when her assailant jerked her upright by her tresses and spun her around. However, her teal eyes widened only a split second before whoever was attacking nailed her in the jaw: she was hit with such a powerful blow to the face that she was knocked clean off her feet. The girl squeaked a second time when she hit the tiles and slid all the way into the lockers on the other side of the hall.

"You made Mitsukuni cry," a deep voice growled, vibrating her muffled, ringing ears. "Now it's your turn."

"T-Takeshi! Wait!" the blonde boy unexpectedly squealed, making whoever had just hit her pause; when Saelind's head stopped spinning enough for her to sit up a little, she realized that the blonde looked positively horrified. "It w-w-was my fault, Takeshi! I was running and I didn't see him, so we kind of crashed into each other and fell on the floor! It wasn't his fault, it was mine! But it... the blood... I just... I got scared, and...!"

The hulking boy who'd just punched her glanced at his fist with a startled expression.

Then he froze and slowly lifted his head to look at Saelind in horror.

The Russian dazedly blinked when she found herself staring straight into the eyes of a hulking young man.

Oddly, though, he started making a choking sound and waved his arms, struggling to say something.

"A-are you okay?!" the blonde called, looking at the swaying Russian girl. "I-I'm so sorry! And Takeshi is sorry, too!"

The enormous youth instantly bowed, grey eyes huge and fists clenched tight.

However, Saelind's head was still ringing, and she was trying to figure out why so many things were going wrong. She had done nothing more than turn around a corner at the wrong time, so why the fuck had she gotten hit in the face?

"Don't apologize! That guy is the same creep who smacked my hand!" Renge suddenly snapped, stomping over and folding her arms; when Mori paused and looked up, she turned her frigid brown eyes on the black-haired girl, who was shakily crawling to her feet and rubbing her jaw with no expression whatsoever. "He's a jerk!"

"Quit talking about me like you _know_ me!" the black-haired girl shrieked, finally losing her cool; everyone fell silent and wealthy students stared at her all over the place. "You know nothing about me, so just shut _up!_ Go have fun with your preppy little friends already, and _leave_ me _alone!"_

And with that, she whirled around and bolted down the hall at top speed, pulling her hood up as she went.

"What a weirdo," Yuri, a girl who frequently visited the Host Club, muttered. "I hope we're not in the same class as him."

"Isn't he the creepy kid who transferred here yesterday?" a boy standing down the hall asked. "He didn't move for an entire hour in math class... it was really, really weird: if you weren't looking closely, it was hard to tell whether or not he was even breathing. Like a doll, almost."

"Ew..." a feminine brunette muttered. "You mean like a manikin?"

"Yeah," the boy explained. "He really did look like a living doll... it was freaky."

More whispers began to erupt when Honey stood up and hid his scraped hand behind his back.

However, Mori had been frozen in place and he didn't even hear the whispers and gossip that had risen around them.

He couldn't comprehend anything but the look in Saelind's eye when her mask had broken off for a few seconds.

_Quit talking about me like you know me!_ _You know nothing about me! Leave me alone!_

That look... it hadn't been anger... it had been something he didn't understand.

Something... raw.

"Pain," Haruhi suddenly mumbled, making the hulking youth lower his eyes to her face in confusion. "Saelind... was in pain..."

"Haru-chan!" Honey pouted, glancing up at her with a frown. "Takeshi hit him so hard that he flew off his feet! Of _course_ he was hurting!"

"That's not what I mean," Haruhi sighed, rolling her eyes as they headed for their first class. "Don't worry about it."

"I hope he's okay," the blonde boy mumbled; then he slid his hand into Mori's and happily started babbling about some new cake shop that had opened near his residence, problems forgotten. He continued talking until Haruhi walked into her classroom and they went their separate ways; however, the Asian girl halted and gawked in total disbelief when she saw a familiar green-clad figure sitting in the farthest desk in the back.

"Seriously?" she muttered, frowning in dismay. "Well, _this_ is just perfect."

Before she could blink, two mischievous-looking redheads decided to slink up with identical expressions of amusement on their faces.

"Really, now?" the first boy asked, looking at her with a mild expression. "What is?"

"The perfect thing, we mean," the second boy added. "Would you mind..."

"...sharing with us?" the first finished.

"Hey, guys," Haruhi sighed, rolling her eyes when the boys shared a look and shrugged. "I was in detention all day yesterday because of what I did, so I didn't exactly get the memo that Saelind was actually one of our classmates."

"Oh, him?" Hikaru asked, looking at the Russian girl with a perplexed frown. "He's not all that bad."

"Just really quiet," Kaoru sighed, giving a little shrug.

Haruhi sighed and closed her eyes in dismay before looking at the boys in front of her. Then her eyes slowly flitted around the room to where her other friends were sitting, and for a long moment, she felt kind of content. After all, Haruhi Fujioka and all of her closest friends were part of a unique club. The Host Club: every day after school, Haruhi and her friends would Host parties and other random events to entertain the ladies of Ouran Academy.

It was a tiring job at times, but fully rewarding.

All of the members were unique in their own ways, too... for example, Honey was an adorable little blonde boy who looked way younger than he really was. Next up were the Hitachiin twins: Hikaru and Kaoru. Haruhi had to admit, the two of them were literally the most mischievous human beings she'd ever met. They rarely left each other's sides and had some very interesting habits. Such as finishing each other's sentences, doing things in perfect synchronicity, and swapping places for fun.

After that was Renge, a gorgeous transfer student who had somehow become the self-proclaimed manager of the Host Club. She was well-known for holding grudges and having a fiery temper... but although she was a bit vain and ditzy sometimes, she was a good person.

Then there was Kyouya Ootori... Lord have mercy.

He was by far the most intimidating member of their group. You wouldn't think so after taking a glance at his pale cheeks, dark hair, and the dashing silver eyes resting behind those average-looking glasses... but Kyouya was not a young man to be messed with. For starters, his father was the richest man in the country of Japan, but even more shocking was the fact that his mother was currently running Vogue Magazine. In three different branches of product. On top of that, they practically owned all of the smaller chain corporations in the country, so they actually had more authority on the economy than the political leaders.

In short?

He had a lot of wealth, a lot of power, and people took his commands seriously.

What he wanted, he got: there was no fighting back.

Still, it made sense that he was _also_ the one who funded a lot of their endeavors.

"Um, hello?" Kaoru asked, waving a hand in front of her eyes. "Haruhi? You awake?"

"Did you fall asleep with your eyes open?" Hikaru inquired, blinking.

"No... I was just thinking about things," Haruhi mumbled, shaking her head as she finally took her seat. "You know? I actually feel kind of bad about what happened now since I... kind of overreacted. I mean, the kid smacked Renge's hand, and when he got to class, he yelled at a few of the girls when they tried to talk to him... so I slapped him. Now the whole school hates him because of it, and it's my fault."

"No, it's not, it's his for being a jerk," Renge herself snapped, sitting down at her desk and peering back at the Russian girl; she was staring outside and gazing up at the sky without moving, looking for all the world like a living statue. Her teal eye was just visible, but from what Haruhi could see... her face looked almost gentle as her gaze flitted across the slowly-moving clouds. "See? He's a total space-case weirdo."

Haruhi silently wondered whether or not she should disclose the fact that Saelind was actually a girl.

Then she looked down at herself and sighed, figuring if she hadn't done it herself, she shouldn't break the ice like that.

"If it weren't for his attitude, I think he'd be kind of cute," another girl hesitantly mumbled, giving the obnoxiously loud manager a sideways glance; then she noticed how much Haruhi and the twins were staring at her. "W-what? Don't you think so? His looks really aren't that bad."

"Yeah, right," Hikaru snorted, rolling his eyes and sharing a look with his twin. "You can't even fully see his face with that hood he's got!"

"And anyway, what's up with that grubby outfit he's wearing?" Kaoru wondered, eying the girl from across the room. "It's actually kind of gross."

Haruhi had a sudden sense of deja vu and blinked, since the same thing had once been said about her.

"Maybe he can't afford the school uniform," she suggested, shrugging when they glanced at her in surprise. "I wouldn't be surprised: after all, he _is_ my new neighbor... and the apartment he lives in isn't really in top condition."

"I see," the twins droned at the same time, walking around Haruhi and examining her with mischievous eyes. "Interesting."

Around that moment, their first-hour teacher came in.

"We'll continue this later," Haruhi whispered, and the twins nodded before hurrying to their desks.

Thus, class began without further ado.


	3. Chapter 2: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

**Chapter Two: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum**

_How did this end up happening?_ Saelind grumpily wondered, holding her backpack clutched against her chest with hunched shoulders. _Why is it happening?!_

"Soooo..." the redhead on her left drawled, making her tense up even further. "Shall we get started on the project?"

"Yeah," the redhead on her right added, slowly leaning forward and trying to peer inside her hood. "The teacher may have paired us into threes, but Hikaru and I always end up working together since we make an awesome team. We have the highest grades in class: if you want..."

"We'll even let you copy our notes," the redhead on her left continued, making her scowl fiercely, "that is, if you'll repay us by..."

"Answering a few questions about yourself," the redhead on her right finished. "If you wouldn't mind."

"Actually, I very much would," Saelind hissed, shackles rising at their audacity; the twins blinked when she pulled her own textbook out of her backpack and angrily slammed it down. "And since you've thoroughly pissed me off, I'm working solo for this project: you may have had the top grades, but I'm planning on surpassing you since I've seen your test score sheets: neither one of you have gotten a hundred percent."

"Ehhh...?" the redhead on her left drawled, leaning around and looking at her with half-lidded eyes. "So, you're a Mr. Smarty pants then?"

"How interesting," the redhead on her right yawned, trying to look bored. "No wonder everyone hates you."

"How other people feel isn't my problem," Saelind grunted, rubbing her visible teal eye. "if they don't like me, there's this beautiful thing called 'ignoring' that everyone has the capacity to achieve. I'd prefer it if you two would shut up and leave me alone."

"You're a fiesty one," the first twin chuckled. "I think we're gonna..."

"...have some fun," the second twin finished, making a vein bulge out on Saelind's forehead. "This project of ours will be a blast, Hikaru."

"You two are weird as hell," the girl finally muttered, shuddering when they blinked and stared at her in surprise. "Just leave me alone!"

However, when the twins simultaneously put their arms on her shoulders, she snarled like a wild dog and startled the hell out of them.

Growling deep in the back of her throat, the girl angrily stood up and stepped away, teal eye narrowed with fury.

"Don't..." she spat, angrily gathering her things and drawing the attention of everyone around her. "Don't ever do that again! Don't touch me! EVER!"

"Chill out!" the first redhead sighed, giving her a wide-eyed shrug.

"We're sorry!" the second redhead added, giving her the same reaction.

"Ahem: Heseroph-san, we're on page fifty-four," the teacher softly called, gesturing to the desk. "Please, take your seat until the pamphlets have been handed out. Once class is over, you can officially start the project."

Giving her a small nod, Saelind once again took her seat.

The moment she was sitting down, however, the black-haired girl immediately turned her head and started staring out the window, refusing to look at either redhead. And since they'd apparently lost interest with teasing her, things got quiet: still, her jaw was hurting and she felt so dazed and angry that she wanted to avoid socializing even more than she usually did at school. However, after nearly thirty minutes of staring up at the beautiful sky, the girl felt a gentle tap on her arm and flinched away from the contact with a small hiss.

She slowly turned her head and found herself staring up at a familiar girlish brunette with light, honey-brown eyes.

"Your name is Saelind, right?" 'he' asked, turning to look at the twins with a reprimanding expression. "I know we didn't meet each other under the greatest circumstances, and I want to apologize for my actions. Especially since we haven't even been properly introduced yet: my name is Haruhi Fujioka, and I was... sort of wondering if you, Hikaru, and Kaoru would like to join up with our group for the next class. Since we're on a break now, I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite you."

"No thanks," Saelind muttered, averting her teal eyes as her lips twisted uncomfortably; she clasped her hands together beneath the desk to keep them from shaking, since she hated this kind of attention. "I'm ahead in all of my classes, so all I have to do is wait for my textbooks to arrive from home... this is pretty much a free, no-work week for me."

"That reminds me," the redhead on her left asked.

"Where are you from?" the redhead on her right completed.

"Very far away from here," Saelind mumbled vaguely. "Now, if we're done, can you leave me alone again, please?"

The three of them noticed her tense posture and shared a confused look before Haruhi returned to her own partners back at her desk.

Saelind sighed in relief and turned to look out the window again.

She didn't know that Haruhi kept an eye on her throughout the day, or even that the brunette was increasingly disturbed by how little she seemed to move.

Several hours passed, and before she realized what was happening, the lunch bell rang and Saelind slowly closed her eye. She took a deep breath before getting to her feet and silently making her way for the door. Both twins shared a glance with each other and shrugged, since the girl hadn't even given them time to ask what they'd wanted. Anxiety is what made Haruhi follow Saelind: she couldn't deny that she was curious about the new girl, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something about her was... off.

Saelind gave off a weird vibe that made her stomach twist... a vibe that made the air feel like a storm was about to roll in. Haruhi was worried that more drama would spring up if the new girl went off by herself. However, that's when she noticed Saelind staring after a girl who'd just run past her: the yellow-clad student had run up a flight of stairs, but when Saelind followed her, her path led Haruhi all the way to the school rooftop. The brunette blinked when the tiny girl walked through the doors leading outside.

"What's she doing?" Haruhi wondered blankly, staring at the swinging door with startled brown eyes. "That part of the school is off limits..."

Slowly making her way up the stairs, the girl poked her head through the door... and went rigid.

"STUPID MOTHER!" a girl shrieked loudly from somewhere nearby. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

"What are you doing?" Saelind's monotonous voice inquired. "Why the heck are you on the roof?"

The girl instantly let out a screech, sounding as though she were being hurt.

Brown eyes flashing with anxiety, the brunette tore onto the rooftop and sprinted towards the area where the sound was coming from. However, when she heard Saelind's voice speaking something else that she couldn't hear, she skidded to a halt and frowned in puzzled disbelief. Her snappish tone had gentled to the point where it almost didn't sound like her.

"I have every right to hate her! I mean, it's not fair!" the female voice snapped, sounding extremely angry. "That woman isn't my mother, and she's selling all of the stuff my birth mom gave to me over the years! Just this morning she had my grand piano sold to a man who smashed it into pieces! You just don't get it, so don't tell me it's not good to hate my mom! Don't act like you understand!"

"I don't understand the pain of your personal situation," Saelind quietly agreed, making the eavesdropping brunette furrow her brows in total confusion; she sounded like a completely different person. "However... I _do_ understand the pain that comes from not being able to help someone who's hurting, as well as the pain of being the one in need and not having anybody help you. You're alone and suffering... nobody deserves that."

"What do you know?!" the girl snidely demanded. "You don't have to deal with my horrible step-mother, so why do you care?"

"Because I understand," Saelind stated simply, voice cracking on the last word. "You said she didn't love you, right? I can... relate."

When Haruhi slowly moved forward and peered around the corner, she beheld the tiny girl standing with her back against the fence surrounding the rooftop; beside her was a cute girl with cherubic brown hair and large glasses that made her owlish brown eyes look even bigger than they already were. However, at the moment she was glaring at the ground with red cheeks.

"Oh, really?" the girl demanded, looking up at the hooded teen with a scrunched face. "Why don't you tell me about _your_ situation, then?! After all, you're acting like such a know-it-all that it's only fair that I compare my situation to yours! How's that sound, Mr. Smarty Pants?"

"You don't want to know," Saelind stated softly, stoic expression never changing as she stared at the clouds. "My situation is a bit different than yours."

"Spill it!" the girl snapped, glaring at her. "It doesn't matter if I want to know or not: you made me say such embarrassing things that it's only fair! Nobody at this school knew about the issues with my mother, so I'll feel more comfortable if I have blackmail!"

"Fine," Saelind muttered, giving her a cold look. "Don't say I didn't warn you, though."

"What do you mean?" the girl scoffed, narrowing her eyes in suspicion when she slowly knelt down and pulled her hood off. Haruhi blinked and peered around the corner with intense eyes when Saelind unfastened the tie holding her bangs across her face. When she lifted her small hand and slid her hair to the side, however, the girl gasped and jerked back against the fence. "W-w-what's wrong with your face?! W-wha...? Why is your... n-no way! What on Earth happened to you?!"

"These scars are the result of a parent's neglect," Saelind stated quietly, letting her hair fall back across her eye. "My mother and father weren't the greatest people in the world, but the three of us were a family... or, at least that's what I believed until this happened. My mother... had a dinner party one evening, and someone who was invited left their stove on by accident. Because of that, the entire apartment building where we lived caught fire."

"Oh, my God!" the girl whispered, covering her mouth before she slowly lifted her hand and tried to touch her face. "You poor thing!"

Saelind instantly jerked away from her fingers, making the girl draw back a bit.

"Please, don't touch me," she stated calmly, giving the girl a firm expression. "I can handle most things, but... I don't like the sensation of being touched since I can't feel the left half of my body anymore. It makes me jittery."

"What happened to you?" the girl whispered, shaking her head and covering her mouth. "How did you get burned?"

"I was trapped on the top floor with the baby sitter: the left side of my body was burned in our attempt to escape," Saelind explained, shrugging her shoulders before she rolled back on her heels and looked at the sky again. "It didn't end there, though: you see, about a year and a half after I recovered from the accident, my father abandoned us... and last week, my mother finally sent me away because she couldn't stand looking at me anymore. She blames me for him running off on us, see?"

"You poor thing!" the girl whispered, sounding totally horrified. "That's awful! What kind of horrible parents would do that to their child?"

"Mine," Saelind deadpanned, giving a weak little chuckle that made Haruhi cover her mouth; her brown eyes were wide and she looked thunderstruck by what she'd just heard. "After the fire, my parents were ashamed of me... for a long time, they hid me upstairs when we had guests and they never allowed me to go to school... but worst of all, they acted like I didn't exist any longer."

"That's so sad," the girl mumbled, taking her glasses off with a twisted expression; much to Haruhi's surprise, the girl was crying. "If I were you, I would always be crying... I don't think I'd ever be strong enough to keep moving forward if I were in your place, so you're pretty amazing. How do you not cry?"

"I do cry, all the time," Saelind quietly laughed, lifting her head and staring at the sky when she blinked. "I just do it in a way that most people don't understand. When I was little, I was considered extremely wild... my name, believe it or not, means 'Dragon Song' in my native tongue: _Sael_ is the word for music, and _Lindaen_ is the word for Dragon. Those two combined make up my name. I express sadness in a very... erm... _primitive_ manner."

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, blinking at her in an owlish way. "Wild and primitive? How can someone cry like that?"

"Easy," Saelind replied, glancing down at her with a small smile; and with that, she stood up, arched her head back, took a deep breath... and let out a keening howl that made her sound almost exactly like a wolf. Haruhi and the girl she'd been talking to twitched in surprise and stared at her from their respective spots with enormous eyes, watching in shock as the girl let out that keening, animal-like wail. However, in an odd way, they both heard the pain that she seemed to be lacking in her expression.

They could hear it lacing the tone of her voice... could hear it being woven into the air.

When it came to an end, she took another deep breath and let out another sorrowful howl... and another one... and another.

And when she was finally done howling, Saelind turned and glanced at the girl over her shoulder with a sad smile.

In the distance, a wolf howled back, making two sets of eyes widen in shock.

"It's not bad to cry, you know," Saelind stated softly, turning around and stretching her skinny arms with a sigh. "If you're really having issues with your step-mother, you should just talk to her. I mean, if you properly explain yourself and ask that she tell you her side of the story, I'm fairly certain that you'll both feel better all around. Plus, if you play your cards right, you'll open up at least five different paths to fix all of the problems that are causing you so much grief. If you listen to her... she will definitely listen to you in return. I swear."

And with that, she gave the yellow-clad girl a wave and started walking away.

Haruhi freaked out and immediately bolted around the opposite corner, pressing herself against the wall until she'd moved past and gone through the door leading downstairs. Her heart thumped madly against her chest, but when she slowly walked around the corner and peered at the other brunette, she was startled to see that the girl was staring at the ground with a blush on her cheeks.

"He's an awesome guy," she mumbled, fiddling with her thumbs before looking up at the sky. "I guess... maybe, I could try talking to her?"

Haruhi didn't want to see anymore: she instantly headed downstairs and practically flew towards her classroom.

"I think I just saw something I shouldn't have," she whimpered, covering her face with both hands. "That was so weird! She was howling like an animal! And an animal howled _back!_ What the heck was all that about?!"

When she ran inside the classroom and took a seat at her desk, Hikaru and Kaoru were already in the middle of an argument with each other.

"I think you're overthinking it, Kaoru," Hikaru drawled. "If we let things work out the way they're supposed to, maybe we'll be surprised."

"But Hikaru, this idea for the Host Club is totally amazing!" the other redhead replied, poking his lip out when the girls in class started gawking with entranced expressions on their faces. "I swear, I'm not overthinking it! Why are you so mean to me?"

The other twin's eyes widened when his brother turned away with a single tear sliding off of his lashes.

"I... I'm sorry, Kaoru," Hikaru murmured, blinking before pulling him into a hug; the girls in the room turned bright red, and few of them squealed in delight, making Haruhi roll her eyes and look away. "I'll listen to it, I promise."

"Weird as ever, I see," Haruhi sighed, lifting her doe brown eyes with a disheveled huff. "I wonder where Saelind is?"

"Who cares?" Renge's voice snapped; Haruhi jumped when the girl sat down at her own desk and tore into her food. "Why is everyone on his side all of a sudden? I mean, the creep hit me on his first day, his face is just gross, and on _top_ of that he has psychotic tendencies! Why doesn't anyone see it?"

After a moment of blinking, Haruhi hooked a glossy strand of hair behind her ear and looked at the floor.

"They do: everyone _aside_ from me thinks the same thing as you," the brunette mumbled, averting her eyes. "Personally, I feel kind of bad about it."

"You're a goody goody, though, Haruhi: that's why you feel guilty," the blonde pointed out, flapping a dismissive hand. "You're too nice."

However, Haruhi didn't listen to what she was saying: she had realized that Saelind was an extremely complex person, especially since her antisocial mood had done a total one-eighty the moment she'd come across someone who'd been openly suffering. Not only that, instead of repelling that person with her words and actions... she had somehow gotten through to her. She'd even made her feel better and opened up a window of opportunity to fix her issues.

Then there was the stuff she'd heard about her parents... Lord have Mercy.

It was still giving her chills.

She actually pitied Saelind after discovering how screwed up her family life was, and it also made her understand that Ranka had been right in a way: being openly cruel to a person like her was wrong, especially since she'd already suffered so much. _HOW_ her father had suspected something about Saelind's situation was anyone's guess, since the man was a natural airhead.

But he'd done it, and only one thing was certain now: Saelind's behavior was a self-defense mechanism.

She wasn't really as mean and cold as she tried to seem.

Still, she'd been fairly stunned to see her howl at the sky like a wolf that had been left all alone in the middle of nowhere.

"It's actually a lot sadder that way," she absently murmured, planting her chin on her palm with a thoughtful expression. "It would have made less of an impact on me if she'd done it normally... I feel even worse about her situation now. Urgh... I have to figure out a way to do something that might make things easier. It's the least I can do."

"Done what normally?" Renge asked, pensively taking a bite of the rice in her lunch box with her chopsticks. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing, just thinking out loud..." Haruhi muttered, shaking her head. "Anyway, I'm gonna study a little bit since I'm not hungry."

"Suit yourself," the blonde girl chuckled, waving her lunch box around. "Not my fault if you get hungry later on!"

"It's not like I even need extra calories," the brunette sighed, rolling her eyes. "I had enough of them last night!"

That much was true: Saelind's stir fry had been out of this world.


	4. Chapter 3: Beautiful Narcissus

**Chapter Three: Beautiful Narcissus**

The next day, the absurdly boring normality that came with high school caused rumors to die down, so people forgot about Saelind's transfer.

However, during the last ten minutes of her last period, Haruhi was thrown through one of the most shocking loops of her entire high school existence.

There was no way this could be happening... it just wasn't possible.. it couldn't be!

But it was, and the girl was openly stunned since it severely complicated things: Suoh Tamaki himself had come into her classroom without warning and approached Saelind with a bright gleam in his eyes, not even paying attention to how all of the girls immediately swooned. He really was a handsome young man, all things considered... he had creamy skin, dreamy sapphire eyes, platinum blonde hair that had just the right wave, and a dashing smile. On top of that, he was athletically toned because he played tennis, and his school uniform was always being worn neatly since he was a very refined young man. He looked, for all the world, like the son of a prince: hence why the girls adored him so much.

Compared to an antisocial recluse like Saelind, who had no charm or even any masculine sex appeal, Tamaki shone like the sun.

So, why the hell was her big-time crush speaking with the girl that everyone thought was a boy?

Better yet, why did Saelind even look okay with it?

"This might not end well," Haruhi droned, furrowing her brows and drawing the attention of the twins. "It's an accident just waiting to happen."

"What is?" Kaoru droned, sounding thoroughly bored. "You mean what Boss is doing?"

"Yep," the brunette deadpanned, folding her arms and watching with a quirked eyebrow. "He's chatting with Saelind. With his kind of personality, it's literally like watching a puppy try to paw at a snake._"_

"Well, Saelind Heseroph _is_ in a fairly odd situation," Kyouya Ootori suddenly stated, making all three of them jump; he was looking at some papers from behind his glasses, and when Haruhi tried to catch a glimpse, she was startled to see a picture of Saelind on one of them. "According to my intel, every day after school, he flies through the work he skips here and sits in a corner until it gets dark. The boy doesn't even own a futon: he literally curls up on the floor like a dog each night and goes to sleep. Very odd indeed."

"Uh, and you know all this... _how?"_ Hikaru instantly asked, lifting his head with a curious expression. "I don't get it."

"Yeah, how _do _you know that?" Kaoru added, blinking in confusion before he shared a shrug with his brother. "Did you do another background check?"

"Oh, yes, but I couldn't find any solid info on what kind of a person Saelind is," the pale boy sighed, flipping through another paper. "I've requested to have his old school files transferred here since I'm actually rather surprised that someone like him made it into our school."

"I can see right into... his... apartment from my bedroom window," Haruhi quietly pointed out, making all three of them stare at her; she shrugged and looked at the black-haired girl with a sigh. "Still... I think there are lots of misunderstandings floating around here."

"Honestly, the only thing I know for certain is that Saelind is an Honor student like you, Haruhi," Kyouya snorted, glancing up with a hard flick of his eyes. "I can understand why Tamaki would want to approach him, especially since you seem to be a very likeable person. Still, he's rather naive: not everyone is as polite and kind as you are. Let's just wait and see what happens."

"Why don't we keep an eye on him when we drop over at Haruhi's place tonight?" Hikaru mischievously suggested. "Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!" Kaoru agreed, eyes shining in delight. "That way we can find out what he does after school each day!"

"No!" Haruhi stated, crossing her arms like an 'x' and shaking her head. "Not happening!"

"Aww, come on!" the twins begged simultaneously. "Please?"

"No!" Haruhi repeated, then winced when they gave their best puppy dog eyes. "Kyouya-sempai, help me out here!"

"I personally don't care one way or another," Kyouya snorted, flipping through several more papers with a frown. "Do whatever you want."

For a long moment, the twins merely stared at him with an open mouth... but then they cheered, and Haruhi let out a disheveled sigh.

"Look," the girl pointedly muttered, ignoring how the redheads gawked at her instead. "You two just openly suggested that we _spy_ on someone we don't know very well. Saelind is a genuinely quiet person, and he doesn't like being touched... but he's _not_ antisocial like everyone thinks, and spying on him would technically be considered a crime."

"Are you kidding?" the twins deadpanned at the same time, giving her two identical half-lidded looks. "That kid is the _definition_ of antisocial."

"Did you ever take into account that he's not even from this _country_?" the brunette asked, frowning at the twins with furrowed brows. "Remember what our teacher said when Saelind first transferred here? He's from Russia!"

"So what?!" Kaoru snapped, throwing his arms into the air. "Who cares if he's from another country?!"

"That boy isn't normal," Hikaru agreed, giving a nod. "He's bipolar and he's also... kinda creepy._"_

"You're over-thinking things," Haruhi sighed in dismay, patting her cheeks to wake herself up. "Stop worrying about Saelind so much!"

Around that moment, the last hour bell rang and everyone started collecting their things... aside from Tamaki and Saelind, who somehow seemed to be lost in a conversation with each other. Shockingly enough, the tiny black-haired girl didn't look as though she was irritated by being bothered: the last time someone had tried talking to her like this, she'd hissed like a snake.

On top of that... it had been revealed that her canines were unbelievably sharp-looking.

"I guess we should get going," Haruhi muttered, glancing at the conversing boys. "We shouldn't keep the girls from the Host Club waiting."

"That's right!" the twins chanted simultaneously. "We need to get things ready for the upcoming pool opening!"

"Er, yeah..." Haruhi sighed, shaking her head and crumpling up the paper she'd been writing on. "Just let me grab my things."

"Haru-chan!" Honey squealed from the doorway, jumping onto Mori's leg with a laugh when the tall boy ducked into the room. "We came to get you!"

"Be ready in a sec!" the girl called, then glanced at Mori to see that he was staring right at Saelind with a startled expression: when she followed his gaze, she saw that the dark-haired girl had stood up and was now sitting on the open window sill. Her skinny legs were swinging back and forth as she listened to whatever the hell Tamaki was babbling about. "Uh-oh... doesn't Mori-senpai like small things?"

"Hmm? Relatively speaking, yes," Kyouya explained, glancing down at her in surprise. "Why do you ask?"

"That," Haruhi groaned, pointing at the giant's glazed eyes and dazed expression. "He apparently just noticed that Saelind is really, really tiny."

Kyouya immediately followed her finger and snorted when he saw the boy's face.

"Well, this is an interesting development," he muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I've never seen him look so out of it."

"Haru-chaaaaan!" Honey called, climbing up to Mori's shoulders and waving at her once he was sitting there. "Come on!"

"I think it would be best if we wait for the Boss in the club room," Kaoru agreed, nodding. "We should wait for him there."

When the girl nodded and left the classroom with her friends, however, Haruhi couldn't help but glance back over her shoulder at Tamaki, who was still ranting about something in an excited tone. Then, despite her reluctance to leave the room, the brunette shut the door and swept down the hall after the Host Club. The blonde boy twitched in surprise after it closed and glanced over his shoulder, since he hadn't even noticed that everyone had already left the room; then he turned back around.

"Is that really all you did, though?" Tamaki asked, looking thoroughly mesmerized. "Somehow, I just can't believe it... Ami-chan is a really quiet girl, and she almost never says anything good about her step-mother, not even to me! The fact that she came to school this morning dancing in circles and singing like a _lunatic_ is totally outrageous! How did you do it?!"

"I told you seven times," Saelind deadpanned, expression completely blank. "I lent her an ear, allowed her to rant, told her about my situation because she demanded to know about it, and then gave her some constructive advice. That's all."

"I don't know what to say... I'm positively speechless," Tamaki gasped, swirling around and pressing a dainty hand against his forehead. "You broke through Ami-chan's barrier so easily! You must be a prince in disguise, nay, even better than that! Ami-chan is one of my regular guests in the Host Club as well as one of my classmates, and she did nothing but gush about _you_ when she came to school this morning! She was babbling, my friend... and normally, she's the kind of girl who prefers reading a good book instead of talking to people. She told me, quite loudly, that her family had been having lots of misunderstandings because they'd never really sat down to have a serious talk in order to explain their feelings."

"Almost all minor misunderstandings with families stem from a situation where someone is being unclear," the tiny girl snorted, closing her eye with an irritated expression on her face. "In order to fix a problem, you first need to find out the cause: this can be done by clearly and respectfully talking about the issues you're having. If you get past that, the stress you're dealing with can easily be resolved... however, major family problems are a different story: those can be hard to fix... if fixed at all."

For a long moment, the blonde boy merely gaped at her; Saelind, however, took the silence as her cue to pack her things.

"You're an impressive young man," Tamaki finally sighed, shaking his head in amazement. "I never thought I'd ever hear such an ingenius statement coming from someone my own age. It seems like your maturity level is well above the norm. Tell me, would you like to join the Host Club?"

"No, I wouldn't, since I really don't like talking very much," the black-haired girl countered, hefting her bag. "And anyway, what I did for that girl wasn't really anything special, okay? She was pissed, I got annoyed, so I told her how to fix her situation: that's all. When you're living on your own like I am, you need to grow up fast. However, that doesn't mean I like anyone, okay?"

And with that, she stiffly headed for the door of the classroom.

"Still, thanks for helping Ami-chan," Tamaki called, giving her a cheerful wave; Saelind instantly paused with her hand on the door handle, not really comprehending what she was hearing. "She's one of my most loyal guests, so... I'm glad that you made her feel better!"

"Don't mention it," the tiny girl muttered, giving a little shrug as she opened the door. "Seriously."

_Especially since even you can't tell that I'm a girl,_ she sadly added, feeling more than a little depressed. _Everyone really thinks I'm a boy._

Feeling irritable and bitter, she left the room and started making her way down the empty school hallway, completely ignoring the blonde who poked his head out and stared at her drooping shoulders in admiration. Saelind made her way home the way she usually did, stopping off at the grocery store and grabbing a snack since she wasn't feeling all that hungry for dinner. However, when she made it back to her apartment, she didn't even manage to make it inside before Ranka stopped her.

"Saelind!" the drag queen called, giving her a smile and a womanly wave. "Would you make dinner for us again tonight?!"

"No," she coldly retorted, not even breaking her stride. "Please leave me alone before I file a restraining order."

"Aw, don't be so stingy!" the man pouted, hopping up her stairs two at a time and flapping a hand in front of her face in an attempt to make her smile. "You did it for us yesterday, remember? Also, Haru-chan is going to be busy again tonight, so I could really use your help!"

Saelind didn't respond, but she did let out a sigh of dismay before grouchily turning around.

Ranka squealed in delight when she headed over to his apartment and stalked up the stairs.

The girl spent a total of two hours creating a difficult Middle Eastern recipe, then set a plate on the table and wrapped up the rest so they could have it as leftovers. With that, she left the man's apartment without telling him, heading back over to her own and leaning against the wall once she was in her barren living room. Little to her knowledge, Haruhi and the rest of the Host Club members had walked around the corner just as she'd left and had stopped dead in their tracks with expressions of disbelief.

They'd been on their way to Haruhi's house from Ouran and seen the girl leaving the Fujioka home: Tamaki, however, practically burned a hole in the concrete running over to the front door. Once he was inside, he found Ranka eating dinner at the table with an expression of genuine delight.

"Oh, hello, Tamaki," Ranka sourly greeted, rolling his eyes; then he saw Haruhi and the others and happily waved his fork. "Welcome home, Haruhi! Also, welcome to all of you! Anyway, you've got to try some of this! It's a new dish!"

"Who was it that just left this apartment?!" Tamaki excitedly asked, leaning forward with an intense expression. "I saw someone leave!"

"We all did," Honey added, clinging to Mori's back like a spider monkey. "Was it the boy in the green sweatshirt?"

"Oh, that's just the new neighbor boy," the woman explained, giving Tamaki another sour expression. "He made us some awesome concoctions today and yesterday: he comes off as a little sharp and rude, but he's really a nice boy and he deserves a lot better than he has."

"Oh?" Kyouya asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "And what exactly does he have?"

"Well, he's living by himself, since he has no parents," Ranka gushed, flapping his hand before he yawned and removed his wig again. "Lord, this thing itches."

"All right, all right," Haruhi finally sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "Let's just eat and hang out. This is a sleep-over for studying, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" everyone cheered, thrusting their fists in the air. "Study sleep-over!"

However, after everyone had eaten and had gotten situated, Honey developed a sweet tooth and started craving candy.

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" he pleaded, tugging on her sleeve. "Do you have any candy?"

"Yeah, actually," the girl absently murmured, scratching her ear as she struggled to solve a difficult math problem. "In my dresser: go check the top drawer."

"I'll go, too," Mori muttered stoically, unfolding himself from the ground when Honey cheered and ran down the hall. "He'll overdo it."

After following Honey into Haruhi's room, however, the tall youth realized that the adorable blonde had already found the bag of chocolates. He was already on his way out: humming happily, Honey skipped back down the hall towards the rest of the Host Club. Mori took a deep breath and was just about to follow him when a flash of movement over by the window caught his eye. Turning slightly, he examined the sill and frowned since he didn't see anything unusual.

Then he caught a flash of green and blinked, slowly moving over to the window and carefully pulling the curtain aside.

His eyes widened and he froze when he saw a half-naked girl with extremely long black hair standing with her back to him. He wanted to move, to run out of the room, to call for somebody... but his body had frozen up on him, and he couldn't do anything but watch in horror. However, then the girl turned, and his face flamed even brighter red since she was wearing nothing but a pair of crumpled jeans and a pale pink bra. However, after a moment, he frowned since there was a familiar green sweatshirt behind the girl.

_What's that doing in there?_ he wondered, still frozen in place. _Doesn't that sweatshirt belong to the boy who transferred into Haruhi's class?_

However, then the girl lifted her face, and his breath was knocked out of his lungs from the shock.

A familiar teal eye had been revealed when the girl's long hair had shifted: Saelind wasn't a boy at all... she was a girl.

Then he saw the burn scars... and he gasped, eyes widening and mouth dropping open in shock for the first time in his life.

_That's why she wears that hood,_ he dazedly realized, blinking in a stunned manner. _Ouch..._

It was around that moment when he realized that the girl was looking at an opened letter.

For several moments long moments, there was no expression on the visible half of her face ... but then, her soft lips twisted in anger and she tore the letter into shreds without even bothering to pick up the pieces. Then she practically tripped on her own jeans in her attempt to run over to the window; Mori twitched and finally pulled himself out of view, pressing himself against the wall when the sound of sliding glass met his ears.

When he heard the girl breathing hard, he shivered... but then, he paused because she sounded as though she were struggling not to cry.

Oddly enough, he was right.

A few seconds later, she took a deep breath and let out a mournful wolf's howl.

Mori jumped and and slowly slid down to the floor with a startled expression, hugging himself as the girl frantically howled over and over again, howling until her voice cracked and she couldn't do it any longer. Even then, she tried... and when he hesitantly took a peek through Haruhi's window, he saw that the girl was clutching the sill with trembling hands: her head had been lowered.

She looked broken.

However, far off in the distance to the north, a wolf howled in response... and soon, more howls began to erupt, baying at the sky in a harmoniously wild song. The sounds made Mori twitch in surprise and he immediately pulled back, heart thumping wildly: Saelind lifted jer teal eye and glanced at the barely visible sky with a solemn expression. Her long hair had been undone and she was shirtless aside from her underwear.

Which had, in truth, done nothing but expose her horrible scars.

"Never," the girl whispered hoarsely, high-pitched soprano echoing into Haruhi's room. "I'll never come back... after all, _he_ only came back because you promised you'd send me away, right? It doesn't matter what you say to me now: even if you're getting a divorce for my sake, what you did to me was unforgivable. I'm never coming back, Mother... so you can grow old alone for all I care."

With that, she slammed the window shut and stormed into the bathroom; a few minutes later, steam started wafting into the hall.

Mori clutched his heaving chest with a frightened expression.

Haruhi, however, was peering into her own room with a solemn expression since she'd seen the last of it.

If howling was Saelind's version of crying, she figured that the girl must have just had a serious baby-like breakdown in her own way.

It made her feel sick, and she slowly started wondering what had put her new neighbor in such a bad mood.

Then she wondered why she was even worried about her in the first place.

However, she blinked when Mori slowly sat up and took another peek through her window... which he regretted fully and completely.

His face instantly flashed bright red and he yelped before covering his eyes and ducking beneath the sill.

Saelind had just walked out of the shower completely nude, with nothing but a towel held just in front of her chest to conceal her body: he had only caught a glimpse of her slender figure, but she really _was_ extremely tiny for a fifteen-year-old girl. In fact, the uninjured side of her face had a surprisingly childish quality: large teal eye, smooth cheek, soft lips...

She looked like a little kid.

Finally getting up, the red-faced youth stumbled out of the room and bolted right past Haruhi.

He didn't even notice that the girl had been standing there.


	5. Chapter 4: Another Debt Owed

**Author's ****note:** There's a bit of realistic violence in this chapter. Read with caution

* * *

**Chapter Four: Another Debt Owed  
**

Haruhi was almost completely exhausted by the time everyone finished studying: after everything she'd learned, she felt as though her brain was having some sort of memory overload and now it was driving her completely bonkers. She'd planned on simply going to bed, but the other Host Club members wanted to watch a movie, so she decided to spend some television time with them: they watched a comedy show for a while, and Tamaki started laughing like crazy since he was still fairly new to things like common television.

However, after the show was finished, Haruhi's friends watched the movie Titanic for the first time ever.

By the end of it, Honey and Tamaki were in tears, the twins seemed rather subdued, and Mori's eyes had glazed over.

Kyouya, however, was expressionless as always,

Then the clock on the wall started chiming, signalling that it was ten thirty.

"Well, it's late," Haruhi groaned, sitting up and letting out a yawn. "We might as well go to sleep now, huh?"

"Yeah," Kaoru yawned, then looked at the futons that Ranka had set up all over the room. "So, which rooms are we staying in?"

"I'm planning on sleeping out here, since Dad is," Haruhi sighed, giving him a surprised expression. "Still, someone is gonna have to sleep in my room."

The Host Club instantly went into a frenzy and started playing rock-paper-scissors since everyone wanted to sleep in the same room as Haruhi.

However, shockingly enough, Honey lost three times in a row and instantly looked up at everyone with puppy-dog eyes: he squeezed his stuffed rabbit in the hopes of winning them over, but when he realized he wouldn't get a fourth shot, he pouted at the floor. However, in order to make up for this sad situation, Haruhi gave him the entire bag of chocolate and he cheered right up.

"Thanks, Haru-chan!" the blonde boy mumbled, giving her a happy hug. "That was a good movie, too! I'm tired... g'night, Takeshi."

"Don't forget to brush your teeth," the elder boy droned, giving him a firm stare.

"I won't," Honey mumbled, rubbing his eyes before he padded off to the bathroom to do so. "Good night."

"Night Sweetheart," Ranka called, rolling out his own futon and giving Tamaki such a powerful stink-eye that it made the blonde freeze. "Don't even think about getting close to my daughter."

"Yes, sir," the blonde squeaked, giving him a fervent nod. "Wouldn't dream of it!"

"Oh, and Haruhi?" Ranka whispered, leaning close to his daughter when she blinked at him. "I'd really appreciate it if you were nicer to Saelind from on... I don't know why, but I get the feeling that... he doesn't really know how to act around other people. He's got the look of a boy who needs caring for... you know what I mean?"

"Dad, did you see his... you know," the brunette vaguely inquired, tapping the left side of her face; judging by the way the man blinked and cocked his head to the side in confusion, he apparently hadn't noticed. "Oh, geez... you really _didn't_?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Ranka asked, frowning in worry. "A mole? A wart? Er... what was there to see?"

"Um... never mind," Haruhi weakly mumbled, feeling a sick sensation filling her throat. "That's not... my secret to tell."

"I see," Ranka sighed, nodding with a gentle expression. "I can accept that. Good night, Haru-chan... sleep well."

"I will," the brunette sighed, lying down on her futon with a sigh. "Night everyone."

"Goodnight!" the members of the Host Club chorused.

However, there was one voice that wasn't present: about ten minutes later, Honey finished brushing his teeth and left the bathroom, sleepily padding across the tatami-mats towards Haruhi's room. When he stepped inside and shut the door, he looked at the parted curtain and noticed that the window was open a little. After rubbing his eyes and glancing at the futon on the floor, he purposely went over and flopped down on it with a sigh.

"I'm so sleepy," Honey yawned, rubbing his eye before he snuggled his rabbit. "Goodnight, Usa-chan."

Then he closed his big brown eyes... and before he realized it, he'd fallen asleep.

However, around three in the morning, Tamaki woke up out of a dead sleep and jumped without really knowing why.

For several seconds, the blonde blinked at the dark ceiling of Haruhi's living room before letting out a sigh of dismay. He had almost forgotten that he was spending the night in a commoner's home, but now that he had remembered, all was well. Tamaki had just rolled over and pulled the blankets up again when a soft clanking noise came from somewhere down the hall.

"Huh...? Honey is still awake?" he wondered, slowly sitting up and tilting his head with listening ears; after a moment, he jumped since a muffled crash came from the direction of Honey's room. Tamaki carefully stood up and tiptoed down the hall towards the bedroom before opening the door: he blinked when he saw Honey lying fast asleep on the floor. "What? But if he's asleep, then who was...?"

Another muffled crash made him jump into the air, practically turning to stone from the fright that jolted through him.

He instantly looked at the opened window and blinked, since it wasn't coming from the building they were staying in.

It was coming from outside.

Then, the sound stopped... and the blonde boy twitched when a weird feeling swept through him.

He suddenly felt uneasy for no reason at all.

Slowly moving across the room and stepping over Honey's sleeping form, Tamaki slid the curtain to the side and peeked outside. However, he gasped in surprise when he spotted the new student lying curled up on her side like a little puppy. In truth, he only knew who it was because of the enormous green sweatshirt hanging on a nearby coat rack, but the part that shocked him was the fact that Saelind's long black hair had been spread out beneath her _and_ piled on top of her body like a blanket.

It was actually kind of funny to see a 'boy' wrapped up in 'his' own hair like that, especially someone as hostile as Saelind.

Despite himself, Tamaki snickered at the sight of the seemingly snappish transfer student sleeping soundly in such a ridiculous manner.

However, Tamaki's laughter caught when he noticed a hulking shadow moving near the window on the opposite side of the room: his heart immediately flew up into his throat and he froze where he was standing, muscles locking up in surprise. The figure moved back and forth, seeming to be looking for something... and not even one room away, Saelind was sleeping soundly on the floor.

_I've heard of this... _the boy realized, eyes slowly widening. C_ommoners deal with it all the time! __It's a burglar! W__ake up, Heseroph-san! Wake up!_

However, Saelind continued sleeping... and the shadow continued moving around the room, slowly making its way closer and closer to where the frail-looking girl was curled up. Heart thudding madly, the blonde did the unthinkable: he purposely let out a loud yawn, flicked on Haruhi's desk lamp, and struggled to look as tired as he possibly could before throwing the curtains open.

After opening the window the rest of the way, he grabbed a nearby broom with sleepy movements and opened Saelind's window all the way.

"Heseroph-san," the blonde called in a sing-song voice, making the black-haired girl twitch with an unexpected start; she slowly opened her visible eye and sat up, blinking like a little girl that had been woken up way too early. Then she let out a childish yawn and shook her head: Tamaki's heart flipped when the shadowy figure jumped and flew over to the nearest wall, hiding out of sight. "H-Heseroph-san! I can't sleep! Talk to me!"

"What the hell _is_ this?" the black-haired girl croaked, staring at him in confusion from within the shadows of her dark hair. "Am I having a nightmare?"

The blonde frantically shook his head and pressed a finger to his lip, making the girl's eye sharpen with alertness.

"A nightmare?! Oh, don't be so cold!" the blonde boy sighed, trying to look as though he were mildly insulted. "Come over here and talk to me!"

There was a long moment of silence, and for a few seconds, the blonde boy was afraid the girl wouldn't listen.

"Okay..." Saelind finally replied, keeping her gaze fixed on his terrified expression; she slowly stood up and silently padded over to the window sill, drawing her hair around her like a blanket in an effort to keep her body concealed. Despite her reluctance, she'd already guessed that something was up. "What's wrong?"

"There's someone in your apartment!" Tamaki whispered frantically, act going right out the window. "Someone's in there with you right now!"

"Huh?" the tiny girl hissed back, furrowing her visible brow in confusion. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I saw a shadow in your living room!" the boy frantically explained, sapphire eyes worriedly flicking behind her head. "Someone is in your home right now, and whoever it is, he's _big_! But still, I have to ask... just in case: did you invite a friend over?"

"Dude, it's three in the morning," Saelind scoffed, shaking her head with a grumpy expression. "Why the hell would I invite someone over?"

"Play along with me, then, okay?" Tamaki fretted, gesturing wildly with eyes full of worry. "I'm going to talk about some nonsensical things, then I'll find a way to get to the kitchen so I can call the authorities: you just stay right there, all right?! Don't worry: I won't let anything happen to you!"

"Are you serious?" Saelind calmly asked, furrowing her brow a second time with an unaffected expression; then she blinked and looked at Haruhi's window with a frown. "Actually... why the hell is my window right across from yours in the first place? I didn't even know you lived here."

"I don't! This is Haruhi's home," Tamaki chuckled, then froze since the shadow in Saelind's living room shifted a bit. "Just do what I say, all right?!"

"Whatever, but I think you may be going crazy... I really don't think anyone's in here," the girl sourly muttered; then she rolled her barely-visible eye and loudly exclaimed, "but that's kind of an ironic secret, Senpai! I'm not exactly shocked that you can't sleep after finding out that your best friend of nine years has a _crush_ on you! _Anyone_ would be shocked, wouldn't they?"

"Oh, uh... why, yes!" the blonde cried, dramatically flapping his arms and striking one of his famous poses. "Yes, that's what I've been saying all along!"

"Well, that may be so, but why the heck are you waking me up to talk about it?" Saelind cheerfully retorted, visible eye twitching in irritation despite her exuberant tone. "I mean, you're the one with the gay best friend, so why the hell are you coming to me with this problem?"

"Oh, you're heartless!" Tamaki squalled, pressing a dramatic hand to his forehead; then he gave the girl a forced smirk of triumph and stated firmly, "you know what, I'm not going to share my cupcakes with you for that insult!"

"Oh, no, not that!" the tiny girl droned, rolling her teal eye with a huff of unenthusiastic annoyance. "Anything but that."

"Say you're sorry, then!" the blonde smugly retorted, quirking an eyebrow and folding his arms like a spoiled prince. "I'll go get them if you do!"

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry," Saelind sourly muttered, pressing her unscarred hand against her face with an irritated expression. "Go get the damn cupcakes."

"All right!" Tamaki laughed, spinning around and heading out of the room as casually as he could. "I'll be back in only a moment!"

Honey hadn't even twitched while all of this was going on, but that was just because he was an extremely heavy sleeper.

Once Tamaki was out of sight, the blonde boy bolted for the kitchen at top speed and picked up the phone, dialing 110 with a terrified expression on his face. He hadn't ever needed to dial this number even once until now: in fact, it was only because he'd overheard one of his maids talking about it a few years ago that he even knew what to do in emergencies like this.

He was actually praying that the people on the other end would pick up.

"This is the police," a bored-sounding woman suddenly droned. "What's your emergency?"

"Madam, please! I need some help," Tamaki whispered, making the woman pause. "I need you to send someone down to Haruhi's apartment! Someone broke into her neighbor's home, and he's still in there right now!"

"Calm down, sir," the woman stated seriously. "What's your apartment number, and where are you?"

"This isn't mine, it's Haruhi's! And don't come here, go to Herseroph-san's!" Tamaki stammered, lifting his head and listening. "Please!"

Around that moment, Kyouya unexpectedly walked in from around the corner and took the phone from the blonde boy, carefully pressing it against his ear.

"Hello: the apartment is located in building 895 on the crossing of South Hibari street and Tsukikana Avenue," the glasses-wearing youth stated simply. "The door is number six."

With that, he handed the phone back to Tamaki and watched with a quirked eyebrow as the blonde pressed it against his ear.

"Please, hurry," he exclaimed, leaning over the phone with frightened eyes. "I think the Burglar who entered the apartment is huge!"

"Calm down," the woman soothed. "Dispatch is already on the way."

Before anything else could be said, a muffled crash suddenly came from the bedroom, making Tamaki and Kyouya twitch in surprise.

"What was that?" the black-haired boy asked, lifting his eyebrows in mild alarm. "It came from Haruhi's bedroom."

"Oh, no!" Tamaki whispered, mouth dropping open in shock. "Heseroph-san! Kyouya, I'm going to help him!"

"Young man, don't," the woman stated firmly. "If it's dangerous, you shouldn't—"

However, a bloodcurdling scream flew into Haruhi's house from outside, making the blonde boy's heart freeze; it was followed by several more crashes that curdled his blood and made his hair stand up. Saelind let out another terrified screech not long after that, waking everyone up and making them bolt out of bed in sleepy confusion. Tamaki instantly dropped the phone and bolted for Haruhi's bedroom, nearly crashing into Honey.

The tiny blonde had just sat up and was now looking around in groggy confusion.

"Wha's going on?" Honey sleepily asked, blinking at everything with groggy eyes. "Tama-chan?"

"Heseroph-san!" Tamaki called, flying over to the curtain and leaning out with large eyes. "Are you okay?!"

"Help me!" the pale girl cried, teal eye large with fright as she ducked and dodged the enormous man who was currently swinging a baseball bat at her. She yelped each time the deadly weapon sailed past her, dodging the man's vicious blows by only a hair's breadth with each swing: Tamaki's eyes widened in horror when she tripped and stumbled against the wall with shaking limbs. "AHH! Help!"

"Get back here," the intruder angrily snarled, bringing the weapon down with all of his strength. "Stop moving around!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the tiny girl squeaked in terror, jumping out of the way and landing heavily on her side; she drew her skinny legs out of the way with a high-pitched squeal when the man tried to smash them with the bat. "EEEEK! HELP! HELP!"

Around that moment, Haruhi bolted into her room with the others close behind... but when she saw what was happening, her eyes widened.

"What the heck?!" the brunette cried, eyes widening in shock. "What's going on?!"

"Tama-chan!" Honey cried, running over to the window with large eyes when Saelind screeched again. "What do we do?! This is dangerous!"

"We help him!" Tamaki shouted, running for the kitchen again and grabbing a butcher knife out of the family-friendly holder; he saw the phone dangling on the receiver and heard the police woman calling for him; he picked it up and winced since the woman was shouting. "Ma'am, self-defense just became necessary! The burglar is trying to kill him with a baseball bat!"

"Don't!" the police woman snapped, trying to make him listen. "Let the professionals handle this! It's too dangerous!"

Tamaki ignored her and merely dropped the phone before he tore back down the hall. Ranka was standing at the foot of Haruhi's door with a stunned expression, watching everything with startled eyes: he always became like this in the face of an emergency... but when it came down to it, Haruhi's father always froze during the crucial moments.

Everyone else was calling advice and telling the girl to jump, to run, to get away, but that wasn't helping her.

When the thug who'd broken into her home finally cornered her, he lifted the bat and brought it down: the girl yelped and lifted her hands, catching the base of the bat between her palms. Pain instantly jolted in her elbows since the force of the swing had been extremely powerful, but she clamped down on the weapon and tried to prevent him from moving it any further.

"Saelind, hold on!" Tamaki called, catching the girl's attention. "I'm coming!"

"Tamaki-senpai!" Haruhi gasped, eyes widening in shock. "Don't!"

However, not taking into account just how reckless he was being, Tamaki hefted the knife and leapt onto the window sill before springing across the gap and tumbling into Saelind's apartment. The tiny girl had been backed into the corner by the man who'd broken into her home, and she was currently struggling to keep the bat in place by holding it between her hands.

The burglar was obviously frustrated since she was just strong enough to resist.

"Get away from him!" Tamaki angrily commanded, lifting the knife with both hands; the man instantly turned to glare at him, dark eyes shadowed. The blonde's heart instantly flipped and he swallowed, knees shaking a little. "I'll... I'll hurt you if you don't! I swear it! Now, drop the weapon, back away from our friend, and press yourself against the wall with your hands up!"

For a moment, nothing happened... but then, the man slowly did as he was told, letting the bat fall to the ground.

When he pressed himself against the wall, Tamaki nearly fainted from relief: he instantly lowered the knife and made to move towards the shivering girl, but the moment he dropped his guard, the burglar took advantage of it. Barreling towards him at top speed, the man tackled the blonde around the middle and the knife skidded across the floor: then his hands were clamped around his throat and he was seeing spots.

"Little bastard," the intruder snarled, dark eyes glazed. "I'll kill you! I'll kill _all of_ you! I'm not going to jail!"

"BOSS!" the twins shouted, eyes widening in horror when the blonde clawed at the man's face. "BOSS!"

"Get off him!" Haruhi screeched, struggling to jump out the window; Mori restrained her, however, preventing her from doing so. "Let go! Mori-senpai, stop!"

"Look," he stated in a deep tone, watching the scene in front of him with firm eyes. "Heseroph-san."

Haruhi turned her eyes on the black-haired girl just in time to see her jumping on the Burglar's back with an animalistic snarl, teal eye frenzied: however, the brunette gasped when the girl sank her abnormally sharp teeth into the side of the man's neck and bit down as hard as she could. The burglar let out a high-pitched screech and started flailing around in an attempt to get her off, but by that time, Saelind had already jumped out of reach with a cold expression.

She frantically wiped her mouth and coughed, but then she lifted her eyes with an enraged expression.

"This is over, one way or another," Saelind hissed, looking more like a snake than a human; her hands were twitching she looked almost like she wanted to strangle the man in front of her. "If you don't go to a hospital for your injury, you'll bleed to death within three hours or less. I just punctured your jugular, you know... but still, I'm curious to know how it feels to have something sharp pierce your throat like my teeth just did. How's it feel? Does it hurt?"

The man let out a snarling gurgle and clamped a hand to his neck, where blood was pumping down his skin in rivulets.

"Good," Saelind stated, blue-green eye narrowing in anger. "Remember that pain the next time you want to hurt someone else."

Around that moment, the police burst through the door with their guns out.

"Freeze!" one of them shouted, pointing the weapon at the choking man; his eyes instantly bugged out of his head. "Put your hands behind your head and lie face down on the ground!"

"He can't," the pale girl retorted, turning her visible eye on them with a cold smile; the officers instantly glanced at her. "If he lies flat, he'll die: I punctured his jugular vein, so he needs immediate medical care. Please, call an ambulance and remove him from my home."

One of the dispatch officers immediately pulled his radio out and called for an ER transport before sweeping forward and gripping the bleeding man; the other officer escorted Tamaki and Saelind over to Haruhi's house before sitting everyone down and taking a report. However, shock became apparent all around when Kyouya stepped forward and explained who he was: the officers immediately stood at attention and saluted him before continuing the report.

However, when it came to the part where Saelind had bit the creep's neck, the officer's pen halted in its tracks.

"You... _punctured_ his jugular vein by _biting_ him?" the man asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Kid, this isn't an action movie, it's reality... so tell me the truth: how did you injure him the way you did? What kind of weapon did you use?"

In response, Saelind glared and pointedly opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out in an almost obscene manner: the police officer scowled in momentary irritation, taking the expression to be a childish form of mocking… but then, everyone in the room blinked in surprise and Haruhi's mouth fell open in shock. The girl had _inch_-_long_ canines extending from both her upper _and _lower jaw.

"Whoa!" the brunette squeaked, jerking back before she could stop herself. "What the heck?!"

"Now that..." Kaoru drawled, quirking an eyebrow.

"...is pretty wicked," Hikaru finished, shaking his head.

"You have fangs!" Tamaki cried, staring at her mouth with large eyes. "Incredible! I've never seen such a thing before!"

"Wow!" Honey squealed, leaning forward with stunned eyes. "Are you a v-v-v-vampire?!"

"Do I look like a mythological bloodsucker to you?" Saelind deadpanned, teal eye twitching a bit as she closed her mouth; she instantly fired a death glare at the group of boys, which made them huddle down. "My teeth ended up like this because my parents were nutcases: when my mother first found out she was pregnant with me, she allowed a doctor to inject snake _and_ wolf DNA into my embryo, which possibly fucked up a few of my long-term mental processes and _definitely_ screwed up the natural growth in my body. I was given the option to have my fangs filed down when I turned ten, but I refused it."

"Why?" the officer asked, staring at her in total disbelief. "Those things look sharp enough to kill someone!"

"Considering I just skewered a man's throat with them, they probably are," Saelind calmly retorted, not acknowledging how the policeman paled and absently rubbed his own neck. "However, this is how I was born and I'm not going to change myself just to meet the expectations of other people. Plus, I don't trust doctors enough to let them stick anything dangerous in my mouth: last time I trusted a doctor, I ended up getting hurt."

"Well, since it was self-defense and he broke into your home," the officer reluctantly admitted, lowering his clipboard and staring at the girl with a firm expression, "your actions were well justified: you won't have to attend a court hearing, but we will need to ask you if you're going to press charges against him. Given the situation, I would do it since he purposely tried to assault you."

"No... I'm not pressing charges," the girl hissed, narrowing her aquamarine eye when everyone gawked at her in surprise. "The injury I gave him will hurt in more ways than one for the rest of his life: it may even cause speech problems over time, considering how deep I bit him. Hopefully, that'll be enough of a lesson to keep him from committing any more crimes: there's no need to stain his record on top of crippling him."

The officer stared at the girl for a long moment... but then Kyouya started clapping with a mildly impressed expression.

"Well said," he muttered, quirking an impressed eyebrow. "You knew what you were doing to him, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Saelind stated calmly, slowly turning her gaze away. "If I hadn't done it properly, I could have killed him by accident: if you think it's easy to puncture the jugular without causing an immediate death, you're wrong. I was trained by a professional fighter to do things like this just in case dangerous situations ever rose up... I knew exactly what I was doing."

"I see... well, you did a good job, then. Anyway, we've got things to do, so let's wrap this up," the officer sighed, hooking the clipboard onto his belt before turning to Ranka. "Are you the boy's father?"

"Eh?!" the man asked, eyes widening in surprise; after a moment, however, a devious expression flamed its way across his face and he folded his arms across his chest. "Well, not legally, but I am the man who looks after him."

"Excuse me?" Saelind asked, frowning at the man in offended shock. "That's not tr—"

"Shh..." Haruhi instantly whispered, nudging her with a serious expression. "Don't interrupt him: he'll go nuts."

"What do you mean?" the girl snapped just as quietly, shooting the brunette a glare. "He's telling a falsehood! I look after myself!"

"I know that, but his expression right now... well, it's what I call the 'Daddy-is-God' look," the brunette soothed, turning a dismayed expression on her father before glancing at the Host Club members. "He'll go nuts if you defy him right now, so let's just let him fantasize to the police officer, okay?"

The two of them sat side by side as Ranka continued answering questions and gushed about Saelind; then the officer left, giving them a warning to stay out of the girl's apartment until it could be inspected and cleaned. Soon after that, however, Ranka, Haruhi, and the others went back to bed with yawns and groans, all of them looking thoroughly tuckered out: they seemed oblivious to the fact that Saelind was still there. When they left, only Kyouya and Tamaki were left sitting with her.

"Great," Saelind muttered, lowering her head in dismay. "Now where am I gonna stay? The park...? I think it has benches... but it's so cold out..."

"Oh, I'm sure you know full and well where you'll be staying," Kyouya stated, setting a hand on her shoulder; the girl instantly jerked away from him and hissed like a wild animal. "Now now, don't hiss at me like that. After all, what you just did was _insane._"

"So what?!" Saelind shrieked back, clenching her shaking fists. "I did what I had to do so the jerk wouldn't _kill_ Blondie's ditzy ass!"

"Technically, you _owe_ Tamaki for saving your life," Kyouya slyly pointed out, pushing his glasses up his nose; the girl's teal eye instantly went blank and her balled hands unraveled in total horror at the statement. "That's right: I'm glad you finally understand your situation. You owe Tamaki: if he hadn't seen that man in your house, who knows what could have happened to you? You could have died, or worse."

Saelind looked like a puppy that had just been kicked in the face by the time he was done speaking.

For a long moment, her mouth trembled... but then her eye seemed to fade of emotion and the fight left her.

"What do you want?" she demanded in a low tone, slowly getting down on her knees and lowering her head to the floor; Tamaki instantly gasped and stepped back, blinking down at her in shock. "Since you... saved my life... I have to repay you somehow, right? You are correct, after all: I do owe you a big one... so, what do you want from me? Just name it... and it'll be done, no matter how ridiculous or outrageous the request is."

"Honestly?" Tamaki asked, eyes widening in devilish delight. "So... I can ask for anything? No matter what it is?"

"Yes," Saelind practically spat, not lifting her head from the ground. "Just name it!"

"Hmmm..." Tamaki pondered, tapping his chin as he thought about it; after a moment, he came up with the most brilliant idea in the world and grinned like a fox, blue eyes lighting up with glee. "I have made my decision! From now on... you, my friend, are gonna the Host Club's new dog!"

"W-what?!" the tiny girl squeaked, lifting her head with a horrified expression; she looked stunned. "N-n-no way! That's insane!"

"You're going to carry my things, help with all of the club's chores, and you're going to make homemade lunches for me and the other members!" Tamaki continued, gesturing towards his unseen grand scheme with a few graceful flourishes. "You'll have to listen to everything the other members say, of course, and also do anything we tell you to do!"

"No way!" Saelind shrieked, staring at him with a pale face. "Hell no! No, no, and no again!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Kyouya mockingly chuckled, waving his finger with a knowing look. "Are you going back on your word? Before you answer, I _should_ just let you know that I'm completely capable of pulling a few strings and having some charges arise against _you_ for putting Tamaki in danger."

Saelind's face drained completely of color and she shuddered violently before closing her eye in horror: then she slowly lowered her head again, shivering.

"Y-you have my word," she croaked, slowly getting to her feet and shakily walking towards the door. "Um... I-I'm leaving now..."

"Oh, and one more thing? My family employs a private police force of over ten thousand men," Kyouya called, making the girl twitch and lock up in terrified disbelief. "It doesn't matter where you go: if you do decide to skip out on us, finding you will be a piece of cake. By the way... do you have a passport?"

"Y-yes, I do," Saelind stammered, turning to look over her shoulder with a fearful expression. "W-why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," Kyouya chuckled, making the girl shiver. "I was just curious."

"I-I'm really gonna go now," the black-haired girl whimpered, wrapping her hair around her torso once again with shivering limbs. "I... should just..."

"Nope, you're sleeping here with all of us, and tomorrow you're helping Haruhi make breakfast," Tamaki happily countered, grinning when Saelind froze and slowly shifted her path, almost robotically heading for the mentioned brunette's bedroom. Once she was gone, however, Kyouya's tense demeanor relaxed and he actually smirked a little. "Well, that was certainly amusing. I'm actually rather surprised he agreed to it so easily."

"Mommy, I've been thinking," Tamaki speculated. "Something about Saelind seems very refined, despite his crass demeanor."

"Oh?" Kyouya asked, giving him a half-lidded stare. "Do tell."

"I think, if we manage to refine Heseroph-san completely, he might just be a perfect candidate for the role that many girls adore," the blonde stated; then he whirled around and dramatically thrust his finger out at nothing. "The Tsundere type!"

Kyouya stared at him for a long moment: nothing happened within that span, and a cold breeze seemed to sweep through the room.

"If you say so," the dark-haired boy yawned, walking towards the living room. "Let's get some sleep now."

When the two of them went back to bed, however, they didn't hear the soft howling coming from Haruhi's room.


	6. Chapter 5: In the Eyes of the Beholder

**Chapter Five: In the Eyes of the Beholder...  
**

When Saelind woke up the next morning, it was only because she shivered violently and let out a huge sneeze: her rippling turquoise eye slowly fluttered open and she stared at the unfamiliar brightness shining on her from the enormous veranda across the room. For several seconds, she simply stared at it, not really forming any comprehensive thought.

She vaguely wondered if she was still dreaming since she was lying on a cloud... there was no way her floor was so soft, right?

Then her mind fully woke up and her eye sharpened in an alert manner, face tightening in alarm.

"Where am I?" the girl croaked, slowly sitting up and blearily looking around; a vaguely familiar room full of sleeping lumps met her eyes, making her feel somewhat confused. "Why am I inside Ranka's apartment...? What's going on...?"

However, it was only then that she remembered the events from the previous evening.

Her heart froze and she stared at the floor, long black hair curled around her slender body like a blanket; after a moment, however, she let out another sneeze and rubbed her itching nose before groggily standing up. Several horrid chains had unexpectedly been cast across her life, and as a result... she was extremely depressed: it seemed as though she would never be left alone. Shuddering, the slender recluse covered her chest with self-conscious arms before getting up and sneaking out of Ranka's apartment.

The tranny had already gone to work, so there was no point in looking for his bike.

With shaky movements, she tip-toed outside and practically flew towards her own apartment since she was only wearing a bra.

Once she'd made it back to her own home, she ran into her barren bedroom and grabbed her sweatshirt, hastily jerking it over her shoulders and fluffing her long hair out. However, on her way out, she caught sight of her reflection in her bathroom mirror and paused, letting out a sigh. The half-hidden face of an extremely young-looking girl with childish features stared back at her: even though she was already fifteen years old, she still looked almost exactly the way she had when she'd been eleven... the only differences were her burn scars, her longer hair, and the extremely cold expression that had replaced the kind face everyone had taken for granted.

She slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath before lifting her scarred hand and sliding her hair out of the way.

Then she opened them and looked at her whole face for the first time in years.

The scars were as hideous as ever... but, at the same time, they'd given her a sense of uniqueness. It was a terrible way to be unique, but at least the burns hadn't destroyed her hair or covered her whole face: compared to how bad it _could_ have been, she'd gotten off fairly lucky. After all, she'd been trapped inside that building for more than an hour. In truth, the one who'd rescued her hadn't been a firefighter, either... it had been a young woman who had also gotten trapped inside the building. Back then, she'd lived in a penthouse apartment with her parents in Moscow: they'd had almost sixty neighbors since the building had stretched twenty seven stories into the air.

Their suite had been second from the top... and the woman who'd saved her life had been the baby sitter, the person who'd lived above them.

She had been a young mother... beautiful, bright, cheerful... completely energetic.

A wonderful person with two children and a husband... a future that had been full of possibilities.

And she'd ended it all, just for her sake.

_"_Miss Alex..." she whispered, shivering violently. "I miss you."

With a shudder, Saelind shook her head and let her hair fall back to the side, covering her scars.

Then she hurried out of her apartment and ran over to Ranka's, hoping the jerk who'd blackmailed her into this hadn't noticed. When she walked inside, however, she was rather startled to see that everyone was up and putting the futons away. It was around the same moment Saelind froze that Haruhi sleepily noticed her.

"Oh... good morning," the brunette called, making Saelind jump; the girl was rubbing her eyes and seemed to be genuinely exhausted after the events of the previous night; she didn't even look at her properly. "I didn't notice that you'd already gotten up."

"Well, look who's up bright an early!" Tamaki called, making the pale girl cower and shudder violently. "Good morning, little piglet!"

Saelind choked on her spleen and her head flew to look at him in shock.

"P-piglet?!" she squeaked, mouth hanging open in outrage. "W-what did you just call me?!"

"I should get breakfast going," Haruhi yawned, not even paying attention to the conflict. "Omelets and rice..."

"Oh, don't worry Haruhi: Saelind would be very happy to help you!" Tamaki laughed, making everyone stare at him in surprise; Kyouya smirked in a barely noticeable manner when the girl's face tightened in irritation. "As of yesterday, we've got a new dog!"

Haruhi blinked several times as she processed that, but then her brown eyes widened and she glanced at him in surprise.

"What?" she deadpanned, shock apparent on her face. "No way... senpai, you didn't!"

"Yep, I did!" Tamaki laughed, striking up another one of his famous princely poses. "I'm sure if it turns out right, he may even be allowed to join the Host Club!"

"Excuse me?" Saelind demanded, looking at him with a startled expression. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what you heard!" Tamaki laughed, twirling around with a gleaming grin. "I was surprised when I discovered that the antisocial transfer student had such a soft and tender side to him, especially since you swayed the heart of the lovely Ami-chan with such few words! You're definitely very refined, despite your... lack of sociable skills. The only thing we'd need to do is give you a make-over and get you out of that commoner's outfit!"

"Oh, no..." Haruhi whispered, looking back and forth between the two of them when sparks started flying from Saelind's eyes.

"I'm sorry... I think I just misunderstood what you said," Saelind slowly replied. "Speak in dumb-person language, please..."

"Pardon?" Tamaki asked, looking at her with a blink. "You didn't understand?"

"Oh, I understood," Saelind stated simply, glaring daggers at his face, "I simply want you to repeat it so I can see if it still sounds bat-shit crazy the second time around."

"Oh, but it's not crazy at all!" Tamaki chuckled, ignoring her rude language in favor of a dramatic pose. "It's an absolutely splendid idea!"

"Are you insane?!" Saelind screeched, eye flying open wide with anger. "I don't want to be in your club!"

"Hm... that's a shame," Tamaki sighed, pressing a dismayed hand against his forehead. "And here I thought you would like the idea."

"Yeah, I'll be taking my leave now," Saelind snorted, turning around with a clenched jaw. "Later."

"Oh, Mr. Heseroph," Kyouya called, making the girl freeze mid-step. "Don't forget our little deal, all right?"

"Would you mind helping Haruhi make some breakfast?" Tamaki asked, smiling when the girl hunched her shoulders. "She could use it!"

"Not at all," the girl reluctantly grumbled, slowly exiting the room and making her way towards the kitchen. The other club members watched in silence as she grabbed the skillet she'd brought over, and after looking in their fridge, she took stock of what the Fujioka family had and memorized it with a sour expression. After a moment, she pulled out the carton of eggs as well as the milk and several other things.

Then she opened a cabinet and poked around for some rice.

Within minutes, she had several traditional Japanese-style rice omelets sizzling on the stove: her hands worked skillfully and quickly, and by the time the identical Banes of her Existence walked into the kitchen with their picture-perfect looks set in place, the table had been set and she was sitting at it. The twins instantly grinned at her and waggled their fingers in synchronicity: the act legitimately made the girl want to bite their hands off.

"Morning, Errand Boy," Kaoru chuckled, grinning when her eyebrow twitched. "So, what's for breakfast today?"

"Yeah, is it something good?" Hikaru added, looking at the plates with large eyes. "What is it?"

"Omelet rice," Saelind stated coldly, struggling to keep her mouth from pulling into a snarl. "Can I go home now?"

"Nope," the twins stated simply, giving her a mischievous grin. "Boss wants us to keep you here until after breakfast."

"Good morning, Sael-chan!" Honey called, plodding in with Mori close behind. "Something smells really good!"

"Sael... chan?" Saelind wondered aloud, cocking her head with a confused expression. "Where the hell did he get _that_ from?"

"He likes nicknames," Haruhi called, walking into the kitchen with a tired expression. "Sorry for skipping out on the breakfast process: I knocked my ankle against the wall corner and Tamaki-senpai wouldn't let me leave the room until now."

"Whatever," the black-haired girl sighed, poking at her food with an irritated demeanor. "I'm used to cooking, so it wasn't any trouble."

"Thanks for making breakfast!" Honey gushed, looking at the gooey omelets with a drooling mouth. "It looks delicious!"

"That's because it is," Saelind muttered, shaking her head in disgust before she glanced down at herself with a wince. "I'm... going to head back over to my house to wash my clothes... I don't feel comfortable walking around like this."

"Why do you even wear those things, anyway?" Tamaki asked, waltzing into the room with a brilliant smile. "I haven't even seen you wear the school uniform!"

"That's because I can't afford it," the girl retorted, making him blink; she was staring at her food with an angry expression. "It costs three hundred thousand yen: in America, that's three thousand dollars, and in Russia... well, more than I can afford."

"That won't do," Kyouya chuckled, pulling out his phone and rapidly dialing a number. "We can lend you a uniform like we did for Haruhi."

"I don't need charity!" the black-haired girl squeaked, face flaming bright red. "I'm fine with the clothes I have, thanks!"

"Yeah, and there's still one problem," Kaoru sighed, getting up with a shrug. "We've said this once before, but still..."

"He'll never get very far with the ladies if he doesn't look the part," Hikaru finished, standing up as well. "We don't know if Saelind's looks are good, average, or even below average because he's always hiding his face."

"So what?! I could care less about my looks!" the girl snapped, mouth twisting in disgust. "I never have!"

However, when Tamaki gave the twins a knowing smirk, their eyes flashed with devilish delight.

Without warning, they looped their arms underneath Saelind's before the girl could react, eliciting a startled shout. Kyouya opened Ranka's front door and was handed a standard boy's uniform by a man wearing dark shades and a black suit. Saelind started screaming when Tamaki laughed and tried to help Honey drag her sweatshirt off.

Mori and Haruhi merely froze in place: the boy was flailing his arms and once again making a choking noise, and the girl looked stunned.

"Senpai, don't!" the brunette cried, stretching her hand out. "Stop! We're going to far!"

She was a little too late: the green sweatshirt was suddenly falling to the floor... and Saelind's extremely long black hair was swirling around her torso in gleaming tendrils. When the twins finally let her go and backed off, Tamaki instantly stepped forward and made as if to move her hair aside... but then he caught sight of her chest... and stared, eyes slowly widening in horror.

"A bra?!" the twins exclaimed simultaneously, eyes widening in shock. "Whoa! It's a B-cup! Dude, he's a chick!"

For several moments, however, Tamaki merely stood there.

Then, everyone in the room froze because they'd finally noticed the rest. Tamaki's eyes slowly widened as he took in the horrific burns that stretched across the slender girl's left side... then he looked up at her face and covered his mouth, taking note of the way her hair had been parted. Saelind was staring at him with shaking shoulders, looking for all the world like a small animal that had just been kicked in the face for no reason.

"I'm so sorry," Tamaki whispered, backing away from her with a stunned expression. "I'll be right back... I need a minute."

When he whirled around and practically ran out of the room, Saelind merely stood there, fists clenched and shoulders shaking violently.

"Um... aren't you gonna put your shirt back on?" Kaoru hesitantly asked. "It's a little late for it, since we know you're a girl now, but who knows? After all, you—"

"Shut up," Saelind hissed in a low tone, not turning around. "Just shut up..."

Hikaru instantly glared at her with a scowl.

"Hey, don't be rude," the redhead snapped, pulling his shivering twin against his chest. "I thought you had a—"

"Unless you want me to transfer schools and move away first thing tomorrow morning," Saelind shrieked, whirling around with a fierce expression in her eye, "I would suggest that you moronic idiots shut your mouths and let me calm down. Now you know why I'd never be able to join a club like yours: you pride yourself in being beautiful, and beauty is meant to be shown off. I'm not beautiful, so there's no way in hell I'm joining."

"Scars or not," Kyouya mildly pointed out, making the black-haired girl seethe, "it's your responsibility to do as Tamaki says."

However, shockingly enough, he actually froze when her enraged glare landed on him.

"You know what? Screw responsibility," Saelind stated simply, giving him a nasty smile. "I no longer care if your private police force chases me out of Japan... this place never felt like home, anyway. Oh, and by the way? You're not the only one with rich parents, jerk: my mother is a Duchess, and my father is a famous chef. In other words, I have enough money to survive for a total of sixty years on my own, so butt the fuck out."

Not once, in their entire lives, had a single member of the Host Club seen someone look so angry.

Saelind seemed ready to spit venom.

With that, she stormed out of Ranka's apartment and bolted down the stairs, long hair flying behind her like a cloud of liquid darkness.

She hadn't even bothered to grab her sweatshirt.

Everyone shivered and looked at the floor, feeling more than a little guilty: even Kyouya had a somewhat ruffled expression on his face. He, at least, had figured the girl would have been a good sport about getting riled up in one of Tamaki's schemes, but the opposite was apparently happening. Sure, Saelind was a weirdo, and yeah... she did clash with people a lot at school... but had they really done something wrong and taken things too far?

"That wasn't nice," Mori stated calmly, making everyone twitch and stare at him. "What we just did was wrong."

He was staring at the empty doorway with a solemn expression on his face.

He'd seen it again... the same look he'd noticed in her eye the first time he'd seen her face for the first time.

The eye that looked almost as though it were full of tears.

The eye that cried without ever really crying.

Mori was a popular young man, perhaps even _the_ most popular aside from Tamaki: he was athletic, quiet, and kind of bookish, but apparently girls liked the contrast of his personality compared to his 'wild' looks and adoration for Kendo. On top of that, he never failed to pay attention to his studies, so he was almost always at the top of his class. However, Saelind was literally his polar opposite: she was scrawny, abnormally withdrawn, extremely sullen, underdeveloped in a fairly _unattractive_ manner, and she was also a somewhat animalistic female in nature.

In fact, every now and then she really _did_ resemble a snake.

It was like she was calmly waiting to strike at any hands that were held out to her in friendship.

Not to mention the fact that her body had been severely disfigured...

Still, there was something about that girl that was tugging at him... it was an urge to know more about the 'Monster' everyone was spreading rumors about. After a moment, however, Tamaki came back in with a calmer expression and looked around before frowning. For a few seconds, he pattered through Haruhi's home, then walked into the dining room and looked straight at Kyouya, who had just sat down and popped a bite of omelet in his mouth.

"Where did... she... go?" the blonde hesitantly asked, hands hanging limply at his sides. "She... wasn't upset, was she...? I didn't know... it shocked me. It really did."

"She went back to her apartment," Haruhi sighed, shrugging a bit when everyone somberly nodded. "She was _extremely_ upset."

"Yeah," Kaoru added, "she told us to shut up or she'd transfer schools..."

"...and move away tomorrow," Hikaru finished.

"Yes, and she even decided to rebel against me when I intervened," Kyouya sighed, shaking his head. "Honestly, what a troublesome _girl."_

Tamaki paled and covered his mouth, cracking like a thin pane of glass as his figure whited out.

The other members instantly winced when he started dissolving, knowing that they probably should have lied.

"I hurt her," the blonde whispered, staring off at the wall with beady eyes and a frozen expression as his body eroded away. "What can I do to... let her know that I... that she... that I don't... and we all..."

He finally trailed off, looking at a complete loss... in more ways than one.

Without a word, Haruhi set her fork down and stood up, walking around the table and putting a hand on his crumbling arm.

"She'll understand, Senpai," the brunette sighed, glancing up at him with large eyes. "She may be angry right now... but she's okay."

"Really?" Tamaki asked, looking down at her with puppy eyes. "You're not just saying that?"

"Of course she is," the twins simultaneously deadpanned. "Look, Boss... the first thing to do would be apologizing to her."

"I agree," Haruhi sighed, patting Tamaki's arm before she turned and started eating the omelet that Saelind had made; she'd even gone as far as writing their names on the front using ketchup. "She really outdid herself, though... it looks delicious _and_ it's cute!"

Tamaki was already heading into her room, so he didn't respond: the boy slowly tiptoed over to Haruhi's curtain and cautiously peered through it. However, for the first time since she'd moved in, Saelind's curtain had been drawn across the window. He instantly sighed and dejectedly walked back into the main room, wondering how he could ever apologize for something so horrible.

His club was about showing off beauty.

And to someone like Saelind, such a thing was nothing but a painful reminder that she never would be.


	7. Chapter 6: Karma Can Backfire

**Chapter Six: Karma Can Backfire  
**

When Saelind returned to her apartment, she refused to leave it for anything, even school and shopping.

In truth, for almost an entire week, neither Haruhi nor Ranka saw head or tail of her... and in the end, it finally got to the point where the brunette actually did the unthinkable and brought the subject up to the Host Club the following Monday. She was a little hesitant, of course, especially since Tamaki was still brooding and eating Ramen in an effort to soothe his guilt when he _wasn't_ preening for the ladies. However, missing a week at Ouran High was pretty much asking to be expelled.

That's how, after everyone had sent their guests off with promises of meeting again, Haruhi found herself in a drama-filled situation.

"Hey, Senpai?" Haruhi hesitantly sighed, turning around and clasping one elbow after the music room's doors had closed. "I need to talk to you about Saelind."

"What?" Tamaki squeaked, looking at her as though she might bite his head off. "What is it?! Is she plotting against me?!"

"Uh... no, probably not," the brunette stated flatly, looking off to the side with a twitching eyebrow. "Still, she hasn't left her home in almost a week, so I think we should probably do something to fix this situation."

"Haru-chan! Haru-chan!" Honey called, running up with large eyes. "You have a plan to make her like us again?!"

_Um, I don't think she really liked us to begin with,_ Haruhi silently groaned, wincing and turning her eyes away a second time. _I can't really blame her under the circumstances, either. _

"Well, I wouldn't call it a plan, and I don't know how she'll react," Haruhi hesitantly sighed, pressing a hand against her chest and looking at the floor with a somewhat concerned expression, "but we really do need to apologize to her. We went too far, and the results are definitely showing through her actions."

"How were we supposed to know about those scars?" Hikaru sighed, giving a shrug before he glanced at his twin. "Isn't she just overreacting?"

"But Hikaru, think about it," Kaoru stated, glancing up at him with large eyes. "What if those scars had been on one of us? I'd never want to be seen by anyone, so it makes a lot of sense that she's so upset, right?"

"Oh," the other twin stated, blinking in surprise. "You're right. I didn't look at it that way."

"Regardless, I doubt you'll get very far considering who we're dealing with," Kyouya sighed, scribbling something down in his secret file; he didn't even blink when everyone turned to look at him. "When it comes to her family bloodline, that girl is nothing to sneeze at: after the comment she made about her mother, it was fairly easy for me to find out who she was. Saelind Heseroph is the great granddaughter of Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia: her grandfather was the Grand Duke, George Mikhailovich, and her mother, Alice Kalvurichi Heseroph, is the one who's currently running the country's public affairs."

Everyone in the room practically froze to the floor.

"Whoa," Haruhi whispered, blinking rapidly from the shock of what she'd just heard. "Are you serious?"

"Does that mean Sael-chan is a _real_ princess?!" Honey squealed, eyes widening in wonder. "Wow!"

"There _is_ something I ought to mention, though," Kyouya murmured, frowning at something before his brow smoothed over. "Despite being the daughter of a Duchess, there's no real record of Saelind being burned in any document. It's fairly disquieting, since there are actually several recent pictures of her attending a private Academy without any burns on her face. I've already had a private investigator look into the subject, since I find it fairly interesting."

"How is that possible?" Tamaki asked, looking at him with large eyes. "I saw with my own eyes that she has... scars... on her face!"

The twins, however, had immediately gone quiet and shared a look with each other: this didn't go unnoticed by Haruhi.

"What is it?" the brunette asked, looking between the two of them when they averted their eyes. "You look like you know something."

"Well, it's not so much _knowing_ as it is _guessing," _Hikaru hesitantly stated, making everyone blink at him, "but... it makes sense..."

"Do tell," Kyouya stated, making both twins look at him with uneasy eyes. "I'm quite interested to hear what you have to say."

"Well... if there really are recent pictures of Saelind having no scars," Kaoru murmured, squeezing his brother's hand, "and she's got burns that have obviously been healed for a very long time..."

"She probably has a sister who looks exactly like her," Hikaru finished, uncomfortably looking away. "It makes sense if you think about it."

Haruhi blinked before she scowled in dismay: that idea had just made everything ten times worse.

"Okay, that settles it: what we did was extremely over the top!" she finally snapped, messing her hair up in frustration. "Come on, everyone, move it! We're going to apologize to Saelind right now!"

And without a word, the brunette hurried off towards the doors and ran down the hall: everyone shared identical looks of confusion and surprise with each other before hurrying after her, albeit Kyouya was moving much more slowly. He looked rather irritated, honestly, but at the same time genuinely perplexed.

Mostly because the twin idea held quite a bit of merit.

When they finally arrived at the neighboring apartment complex, however, Saelind was sleeping on the floor like always.

She had been feeling so humiliated, angry, and horrified that she didn't want to show her face to anyone.

More accurately, she wanted to die.

In the past, Saelind had never been able to find enough courage to commit suicide, but if she simply refused to eat anything, she figured she'd get sick and it would happen naturally. After all, she was an extremely frail person... and even back in Russia, when it came to having good health, the doctors had always stared at her charts with furrowed brows and told her to eat more nutrients. She was extremely small compared to normal fifteen year old girls, so it wouldn't take too many missed meals for her to develop malnourishment... or even to get sick from the lack of nutrition, for that matter.

It probably wasn't a good thing that she was seriously considering letting herself die through self-starvation.

Then again, she didn't have a reason to care.

In truth, she'd never had a real reason to care about anything: she was useless to her parents, and she'd always been second best.

She'd known that her mother hadn't wanted her before she'd hit the age of three.

It had never really bothered her, though, because up until the fire... she'd had her brother.

There had been no pain back then, only the boundless optimism that had always let her see past everyone's actions. However, after she'd woken up in the hospital, he had walked away from her without even looking back. It was then that she'd finally understood that her existence had been nothing more than a shadow.

And it was a shadow that had been cast by her twin brother, Saelvan Heseroph.

Ever since the day she'd eaten her first meal without help, the people around her had practically forgotten she was alive aside from her brother. They'd ignored her, thoroughly and completely, almost every single day of her life: her parents hadn't really needed her for anything, since all of the titles in the family would be going to her brother when he came of age, so in the end... the only person who'd had any value in their family was Saelvan.

According to her mother, she was the Extra child.

Not that this was anything new: Saelind was a strong girl, and just as stubborn as the Duchess. She'd known how to worm her way around the barrier between herself and family to get what she'd wanted, and what she'd wanted the most was to get away from everything she'd been through. However, Saelind couldn't deny that it had hurt her when her mother had told her one morning that she was being sent to live in Japan by herself.

In truth, she had been forced to give up her old life because her father had 'promised' to come back once she was gone.

However, it hadn't happened like that: her family had apparently fallen apart only a few days later when her twin had discovered that she'd been sent away. As a result, Saelvan had angrily left home to live with a distant Uncle in Austria... and now, already two weeks in, her father had yet to show his face anywhere in Russia aside from a television screen. He was currently working in America: he had always broken his promises, but this one had taken the cake. Hence why the Grand Duchess herself had sent her a formal letter of apology a few days ago and asked her to come home.

To put it simply, her mother had nobody left, and she was suffering by herself: the same spot that Saelind had been in her entire life.

_See, Mother? _Saelind thought to herself, snuggling deeper into the recesses of her hair. _I told you so: Karma is a bitch._

The girl was abruptly jerked out of her thoughts when the sound of the someone banging loudly on her front door split the air.

"Saelind!" Haruhi's voice called, sounding annoyingly cheerful as she continued knocking. "Saelind, wake up! We have something to say!"

The girl's teal eye flew open wide when the brunette tried to open her front door and she immediately covered up the left side of her face with a palpitating heart. She instantly flailed around for something to shrug over her body, but aside from her old school uniform, she didn't really have anything to wear.

"Don't!" Saelind shrieked, flailing her right hand and making a gesture for them to stop even though they couldn't see it. "Don't come in here!"

"Sorry!" Haruhi yelped, immediately closing the door all the way and stepping back. "I-I thought you were sleeping! But seriously, Saelind, we all have something we want to say! So, could you please just come out and talk to us? Please?"

Saelind opened her mouth to screech a retort, but then she halted and closed her mouth: now would be the best opportunity to get even with them for what they'd done. With a mischievous grin... the girl glanced at the private school uniform she'd worn at her last school. Slowly getting to her feet, Saelind walked over to the closet and slowly unhooked everything from the hangers, holding up the navy blue blazer and white stockings.

Then she examined the dark red ribbon that had always been tied at her throat and sighed.

She'd worn this outfit every day for three years after the fire, so she knew it would be a very easy feat to put it on one more time. However, it wasn't for memories that she was doing this: it was simply for the sake of getting even.

When Saelind was certain that Haruhi wouldn't open her front door without permission, the girl shrugged her baggy jeans off and pulled the knee-length checkered blue skirt on, zipping the side up with quick fingers. Then, she slid her button-up dress shirt on and lifted her hair off her neck, using the motion to tie the ribbon beneath her collar. Once it had been pulled into a large bow, Saelind slid her blazer over it and brushed her hair out so the left half of her face was covered.

After glancing at herself in the mirror, she pulled the knee-high stockings on and stepped into her old dress shoes.

Then she patted her cheek for some color and twisted her ear to make her visible eye shimmer with tears.

She was ready.

Feeling elated inside, the girl finally went over to the door and opened it, putting on her best act. The entire Host Club was standing on her doorstep, all of them looking either extremely nervous or unaffected. Haruhi instantly gasped when Saelind looked at her through the crack with her best unhappy expression.

"Saelind!" she stammered, fumbling over the words when she saw the girl's face. "W-we came here to... to..."

"I'll never be able to get married because of you!" Saelind whispered meekly, wanting to burst into a fit of triumphant laughter when every single male within seeing distance turned bone white. "You... y-you saw it all! My... my..."

"L-look, we're s-s-sorry!" Tamaki squeaked, forcing his way forward and folding his hands. "P-please, let us in?"

Saelind turned her eye away, batting her lashes in what she hoped looked like a shy and timid manner. Then she hesitantly nodded and pulled the door open before stepping away with her best fearful girly pose. Everyone instantly gasped, since nobody had been expecting to see her in a skirt of any variety.

"Well, now," Hikaru chuckled, slowly walking around her like a vulture circling its prey. "This is fairly..."

"...interesting," Kaoru finished, mirroring his movements before they stood together on the opposite side of the room. "I never would have expected to see you in a girl's uniform."

"You're so cruel, Senpai!" Saelind whispered, covering her mouth and biting the inside of her cheek to make some tears well up; she instantly turned her face away and shivered, closing her large eye when a tear dripped off her long lashes. "Why are you all so mean?"

Haruhi was dumbfounded: she was actually wondering if someone had switched places with the real Saelind sometime during the week.

"Are you all right...?" the brunette hesitantly asked, slowly stepping forward and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey..."

Instead of hissing like she was expecting, Saelind merely flinched and covered her face with both hands, shivering violently.

"Please, don't do it again!" she whispered in a shaking tone behind her hands. "Please! Don't!"

When Haruhi backed off, she didn't notice that Saelind wasn't shaking from fear: she was laughing and trying to hide it. On top of that, behind her hands was an enormously huge grin that had practically split her face in two: she was struggling so hard not to howl with laughter at their stupidity, and damn, it felt good messing with them.

She didn't feel the least bit guilty, either, even when Honey padded up and gripped her sleeve with a teary-eyed expression.

"S-Sael-chan?" Honey whined, looking up at her when she put her helpless-girl act back in place. "W-we're sorry! Really!"

"Yes, we are!" Tamaki chimed in, getting down on one knee and taking her hand with an extremely unhappy expression. "Can you ever forgive us for what we did? Please, if there's anything we can do to make you forgive us, just say so!"

"A-anything?" Saelind sniffed, looking at him with a large eye. "R-really?"

"But of course!" Tamaki exclaimed, nodding fervently before he looked at everyone else. "Right?!"

Heads eagerly nodded all around, making Saelind smirk inside: this was where payback would be its sweetest.

"Then... please," she whispered, turning her face to the side with her best sad expression. "Please, don't make me be the club's dog anymore! I promise, I'll forgive you, but... I'm not... like the rest of you!"

Tamaki was about to open his mouth to confirm this when Kyouya intervened, making the girl scowl inside her head.

"Fine," the black-haired boy stated, surprising the girl by calmly walking forward and brushing a strand of hair away from her large aquamarine eye. "However, everyone, myself included, thinks that you actually _are_ on the same level as the rest of us, Saelind. Your scars may not seem appealing, but there are plenty of girls who would find the story behind them very alluring since they're simply a part of who you are."

"W-what are you saying, Senpai?" Saelind whispered, eyes slowly widening in horror; for real, this time, not through forced acting. "I-I can't... I'm just not..."

"Oh, but you are," Kyouya finished, giving her a mischievous little smirk. "So, from today onward, you no longer have to be the Host Club's dog. Instead, you'll be a full member of the Host Club."

Saelind's mouth dropped open in shock and she stared at him in terror: she didn't like the smile on his face at all.

When he opened his eyes and she saw how sharp they were, however, she twitched since he'd apparently known she was acting.

_Oh, God..._ she whispered silently, shivering violently when Tamaki leapt into the air and laughed excitedly. _What the hell did I just do to myself?! I just forced myself into a corner with no way out!_

Before she could continue wailing inside her mind, Kyouya was holding a male version of the Ouran High uniform in front of her face. When she slowly took it, everyone let out a giddy cheer, and even Haruhi smiled a little: Saelind, however, was thrown for a loop when Tamaki called a hairstylist who came over to her apartment and literally dragged her into the bathroom. For nearly ten minutes, everyone waited with expressions of anticipation, hoping to see the outcome.

Several yelps and squeals of intense displeasure came from behind the door before everything fell silent.

Then, it opened... and the girl slowly came out wearing a the Ouran school uniform, on top of a leather glove for her left hand. However, her face and hair had been greatly altered compared to an hour ago: instead of flowing down her back, it had been pulled into a classic Indian-style braid. The most interesting part was her bangs, however, and Haruhi was rather amazed to see how the stylist had parted the girl's hair: she'd done it in such a unique manner that the right side of Saelind's face had been left completely exposed, while the left side was hidden by several braids that had been looped beneath her ear and weaved into the original braid.

"Oh, wow!" Honey squealed, squeezing his bunny when everyone gasped. "Sael-chan, you look so cute!"

"Gotta admit," the twins chuckled at the same time, giving a synchronized little shrug. "Never would have thought she'd look so good!"

"You're perfect!" Tamaki gasped, swirling around and squeezing Haruhi without warning. "I knew this was a good idea! Isn't Daddy wonderful?!"

"Senpai, get off me!" Haruhi cried, flailing around as her face was smothered against his chest. "Ack! Come on!"

"Takeshi, isn't she cute?" Honey laughed, glancing up at the burly youth; however, the doe-eyed blonde blinked and paused when he noticed that his cousin was staring at Saelind with a somber expression. He was the only one so far who hadn't smiled... and after a moment, Honey followed his gaze and realized that nobody had seen Saelind's eye.

He blinked and squeezed Usa-chan, staring at her face with a much less enthusiastic expression.

Her teal iris had lost its luster and she looked almost as though she'd lost something.

"Sael-chan?" Honey asked, hesitantly walking over to the girl and tugging on her sleeve; he blinked when she hissed softly, without even putting any force behind it. "Sael-chan, what's wrong?"

The girl didn't respond: she looked like she wanted to cry, but she was obviously fighting it back.

After a moment, however, she glanced at him before forcing a smile that made the blonde white out in total shock.

"What's wrong?" she asked, mouth quivering as she fought to keep smiling; her eyes scared him, and the color in his form bled out even further until he seemed to be crumbling into dust. "I'm not a dog anymore: I'm a zoo animal. Still, since everyone's going to be staring at me now, I might as well get used to it. After all... the Host Club always wins."

And without another word, the girl slid past everyone and walked outside.

Only a few moments later, the most piercing, realistic wolf's howl that anyone had ever heard silenced the merriment in the room.

It melted through the air, shredded through the city streets, and made people stop where they were in shock.

Because not even a moment later, a flurry of howls arose somewhere in the distance, sounding just as sad and lost as Saelind felt.

Thus began her worst nightmare.

"Starting today," she whispered, closing her eyes when the boys came outside. "I am a Host."


	8. Chapter 7: Tsundere!

**Chapter Seven: Tsundere!  
**

The next day, school flew by with a speed rarely seen, but nothing truly eventful happened until after classes had ended: Kyouya had begun handing out flyers with Saelind's face plastered all over them to promote her arrival into the Host Club. He'd done the same thing with Haruhi when she'd first been forced to join, too, and it had thoroughly worked in everyone's favor since three girls had arrived on the very first day. Beautiful girls in yellow came from all around the school to look at the flyers with excited expressions, and gasps of delight emanated all around when they saw the black-haired girl's picture.

"Eep! He's so cute and mysterious!"

"Wow, he's dreamy! I wonder what kind of guy he is?!"

"Let's request to sit with him today!"

"Oh, oh! Tell me how it goes! I want all the juicy details!"

_Apparently, this is going to bring in more customers,_ Kyouya Ootori thought, triumphantly pushing his glasses on his nose. _Brilliant._

After the flyers had been distributed, he hastened off to the club room, where everyone was getting ready to welcome the guests.

Haruhi had demanded that she be the one to show Saelind the ropes since the girl had been thoroughly depressed after she'd joined them. She'd avoided talking to everyone even more than usual, and her eye had become disturbingly lifeless. However, since everyone wanted to give Saelind a dramatic entrance similar to the way that Haruhi had been introduced, they'd forced the girl to stand behind a closet door.

Soon, everything was in place... and when the girls finally began to arrive, Tamaki was delighted to see that five of them had requested Saelind.

Once everyone was seated, however, the lights dimmed and a spotlight illuminated the tall blonde's form.

"Welcome, dear princesses, to the Host Club," he sighed, spinning in a graceful manner and pressing a hand against his forehead. "Before we begin our regular activities, I have a wonderful announcement to make. As of yesterday, the Host Club has another new member: starting today, he is making his debut as a host... but I must warn you... his type is a very unique one indeed. Many of you lovely ladies have read the stories. Many of you have also dreamed about meeting one in real life. Now is your chance: it is with the greatest pleasure that I introduce to you... Saelind, the Tsundere!"

And with that, the spotlight split in two and swirled over to the closet door that Saelind was standing behind.

Every girl squealed in excitement and delight when the door suddenly opened and someone new walked inside: he was adorned in a cloud-blue blazer and a simple pair of dress slacks, but his glossy black hair had been tied into a braid that slid down his back like a rope of liquid darkness. His extremely pale skin and high cheek bones accentuated his long lashes, but it clashed violently with his strikingly feminine teal eye. His lips were soft, very full, and looked almost exactly like a girl's in every way, which made his face seem disturbingly beautiful.

As he walked over to the table where the girls who'd requested him were sitting, his footfalls were nearly silent against the hardwood floor.

Several gasps and murmurs erupted between the girls as they eyed the male newcomer with an intense interest.

"You have our best wishes," Tamaki chuckled, before he addressed the girls once again. "Now, let's begin with our usual activities!"

Giving him a small nod, the 'boy' silently walked up the steps and took his seat.

The moment he was sitting down, however, the girls instantly giggled and he twitched with a nervous expression.

As you could have guessed, this 'boy' was actually Saelind, who was thoroughly confused about what she was supposed to do. She felt dazed, and it made her want to avoid socializing even more than she usually did at school. After nearly a minute of waiting, the girl felt a gentle tap on her arm and had to lock her jaw shut so she wouldn't let out a hiss: she slowly turned her head and found herself staring up at a plump brown-haired girl with freckles and bright green eyes.

She was obviously someone who was only half Asian: her face could attest to that.

"Your name is Saelind, right?" she asked, looking at the pale girl with a huge smile. "I'm curious, what products do you use on your hair?"

"Yes, it's so glossy!" another girl gushed, leaning forward with large eyes. "What brand of hair products do you use?"

Saelind's face flushed and her eyes flashed back and forth, almost as though she were looking for a way out.

Then she folded her arms and let out a huff of air before glowering off to the side.

"I-I use products from a Russian company," the girl mumbled, scowling despite her flushed cheeks. "So what? It's not like I'm trying to look nice."

All five girls blinked and shared a look with each other before blushing bright red and letting out a squeal that scared the hell out of Saelind.

"He's so cute!" one of them whispered, looking into the other's eyes with glee. "He's a real Tsundere! Oh, wow!"

"So, Saelind, why did you join the Host Club?" a girl with shoulder-length black hair and large brown eyes asked. "I'd really like to know!"

The dark-haired girl winced and shivered violently before looking off to the side: there was no way she could say she'd been forced into it. However, in order to get away from everyone like Kyouya had promised, she needed to reach ten thousand customers: Haruhi had explained the same method that she'd used on her first day in the club to her before coming in, since apparently, every single girl at Ouran was oblivious to the hardships that people face. This, in turn, also made them sappy for sob stories.

_Easy enough,_ Saelind stated inside her head, looking up at the girls to see them smiling eagerly. _My life has been anything but a walk in the park._

"I joined the Host Club because I get stared at no matter where I am," Saelind muttered, looking away when the girls blinked at her. "I'd rather be stared at by people who... um... who accept me for who I am."

"Why do people stare at you?" all five girls gushed at the same time, leaning forward with large eyes. "Does someone not accept you?"

"Lots of people don't accept me," Saelind retorted, folding her arms and trying her hardest to look angry. "N-not like I care!"

Blushing faces were soon giggling in amusement before another girl decided to ask the winning question.

"Why don't they accept you?" she asked, blinking in confusion. "I mean... you seem really nice to me!"

"Yeah, and you're so handsome!" another girl gushed, leaning forward with large eyes. "Don't worry about whoever doesn't accept you!"

"That's easier said than done, you know, even if it doesn't bother me!" Saelind snapped, grumpily sinking down into her chair and folding her arms. "After all, my mother and father don't accept me, either."

Gasps of shock and sympathy erupted all around, and the girls hungrily leaned forward, waiting for her to go on.

"Why?" the first girl asked, clasping hands with another. "How could they be so cruel?"

"Well... when I was eleven, I was in an accident," Saelind somberly explained, shaking her head before letting out an internal wince. "More accurately... I was in a fire, and I got burned so badly that... the scars will never heal. It was horrible... and for the longest time, it really hurt, but then it just stopped hurting altogether and my family kinda fell apart. I'm here at Ouran because my mother sent me away... she didn't want to look at me anymore, I guess, but still! I don't care anymore!"

So saying, she folded her arms and turned up her nose like she'd been instructed to do after saying something serious.

"I see," one of the girls murmured, shaking her head in a solemn manner. "So, who are you living with now? Some relatives in Japan?"

"Oh, no," Saelind stated, turning her head and blinking in surprise. "I live by myself. I don't have any relatives in this Country since my origins are Russian."

Every single girl was tearing up and looking at her with puppy eyes: they looked ready to cry for her.

"O-o-oi," Saelind stammered, eye widening in horror; she shakily lifted her hands in a startled manner, but five pairs of eyes instantly locked onto the leather covering the fingers on her left hand. "Please, don't cry! I-I don't like drama! And... and..."

"That's so sad!" one of the girls sighed, slowly extending her own hand and clasping the leather glove. "Saelind, don't feel bad! We'll accept you no matter what! Promise!"

The black-haired girl blinked in a startled manner when four more heads nodded fervently in agreement.

"Well, t... thank you," she squeaked, face flaming bright red: in all honesty, she didn't know how to handle that one. "Um..."

"May... I take your glove off?" one of the girls asked, looking up with hesitant eyes when Saelind froze. "I'll understand if you don't want to, but..."

Saelind was about to open her mouth and say 'no' when she saw Kyouya shaking his head with a sharp expression.

"It's not... something you'd want to see..." Saelind hesitantly stammered, averting her eye when the girl took her hand again and slowly started pulling the glove off of her. Every single girl watched with mesmerized eyes as the leather slid back inch by inch, but when it was finally off, Saelind couldn't keep her shoulders from trembling so she didn't bother trying. Gasps filled the air all around. "See?! It's not pretty! It's... it's... ugly! I don't care if you hate it!"

For several moments, nothing happened... but then, an odd pressure bloomed somewhere on her wrist and Saelind turned her head.

However, she instantly froze, since the girl who'd pulled it off had kissed her hand.

Then she pulled away and looked at the stunned black-haired girl with earnest eyes.

"You're not ugly!" she stated firmly, nodding in reassurance. "Don't worry."

"Those scars are on my face, too," Saelind deadpanned in a low tone, mouth twitching when the girls froze. "My hair was styled like this to hide it."

"We still accept you!" the chubby girl exclaimed. "Come on, Saelind! Cheer up!"

"Yeah!" the four other girls chorused. "Let's talk about fun things!"

"So, where are you from?" the girl next to the plump one asked. "You said something about Russia. Is it pretty there?"

"I lived in Moscow with my parents, but it wasn't all that pretty: just very cold," Saelind mumbled. "Japan is a lot nicer than Russia, scenery-wise."

"Oh, yes, I absolutely love Spring!" another girl exclaimed. "The cherry blossoms are so beautiful around Ouran!"

Thus, the chatting began.

Saelind was so miserable and humiliated that she didn't even realize that Tamaki, Mori, and Honey had all been watching her and listening.

"Her parents sent her away after she got burned?" Tamaki wondered, setting his chin on the back of the chair. "No one accepted her?"

"Senpai, there are a lot of things about Saelind that nobody knows," Haruhi sighed, shaking her head as she passed some tea to everyone. "We can't assume we know someone right off the bat if that person hasn't ever told us anything about themselves."

"But Haru-chan, Sael-chan is always acting mean, not sad!" Honey stated, looking confused. "If nobody accepts her, why isn't she always sad?"

"Some people handle those types of things differently," the brunette explained, giving him a shrug. "People handle their burdens in different ways: some girls cry when they're not accepted... others act like it doesn't bother them... and some even distance themselves from everyone and become like Saelind: bitter, unhappy, and extremely angry. Those people are difficult to get along with, true, but they're the ones who we need to be gentle with."

"Gentle?" Tamaki asked, looking thoroughly confused by that point. "Why? If they're mean, why should we be gentle?"

"Because the difference between people who are mean just to be mean, and people who are mean to keep everyone away," Haruhi sighed, giving him a very firm and knowing expression, "is suffering. Saelind has obviously suffered a lot, and she probably doesn't want anyone to get close to her. In short, she's scared of caring about people because of how many people hurt her in the past. See?"

Shockingly, both Tamaki _and_ Honey seemed to understand what she was talking about.

However, by the end of the day, Saelind was exhausted: the girls had all left with promises to return and requests to sit with her again, so she hoped with all her might that she'd done a good job. She simply wanted to get out of this nightmare, and getting ten thousand girls to sit with her was the goal she had to achieve in order to escape: all she had to do was play the part.

"Your first day went rather well," Kyouya suddenly stated, making the girl jump with a terrified gasp; she instantly fell out of the plush chair in her attempt to get away from him, but when she stood up again he merely chuckled. "No need to act like that."

"Forgive me, but I beg to differ," Saelind shakily retorted, glaring daggers into his face. "Can I go home yet?"

"No," Kyouya stated simply, glancing at Tamaki when he hurried over in their direction. "Brace yourself."

"Huh?" Saelind asked, blinking in confusion until the blonde tackled her and lifted her into the air. "EEEK! Put me down! NOW!"

"You did so amazingly well! I'm so proud!" Tamaki squalled, happily spinning the black-haired girl in circles. "You were impressive! A truly gentlemanly tsundere!"

"Someone, help!" the girl wailed, kicking her legs and struggling to get free. "Get off! Let me go! EEK! Off! Now!"

Before she could blink, two more arms swept her out of the blonde's grasp and lifted her even higher into the air. Saelind blinked when the room slowly turned and she was once again lowered to the ground: after straightening out the clothes she'd been given, she tilted her head back and craned her neck to see Mori looking down at her. Then he merely turned and walked back over to where Honey was sitting.

"Anyway, as I was about to say," Kyouya sighed, shaking his head when Saelind glanced at him. "You can't leave because we still have to discuss next week's pool opening. It's impervious that you and Haruhi attend this meeting, since you're going to be getting in the water AND wearing bathing suits."

Both girls instantly froze where they were standing.

"What?!" Saelind and Haruhi squealed at the same time. "No way!"

"I'm afraid so," Kyouya sighed, shaking his head when the other members chuckled and looked at them approvingly. "On top of that, you're each going to be pairing up with a guest to the Host Club for the activities: she will be your partner for all of the aquatics matches. Several regular students are being allowed to attend this as well, since I feel like it may draw in more customers."

"Senpai, we're girls!" Haruhi explained, gesturing at herself and Saelind, who had frozen into a statue. "We can't wear men's bathing suits!"

"That's what shirts are for," the boy chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. "However, based on past experience, it shouldn't be all that difficult to hide the fact that you're a woman... even with a wet shirt on. In Saelind's case, however, it might prove to be more difficult due to her... chest size."

"E-e-e-excuse me?!" Saelind squeaked, clamping her arms over her breasts. "Who the hell asked you?!"

"Nobody, of course," Kyouya sighed, scribbling something down in his file. "I've already got a plan for it, so don't worry about being discovered."

"Kyouya, I think our newest member deserves a break for today," Tamaki suddenly sighed, making everyone blink at him. "He did really well under the circumstances, so why don't we all just relax and go home?"

"As you wish," Kyouya sighed, smiling at him before he scribbled something else. "You're free to go for the day."

"Ah, Saelind?" Haruhi called, making the girl halt just as she turned. "Could you meet me at the grocery store? I have a lot of things I'll need help carrying today, so it would be a really big help if you could walk home with me!"

Without further ado, Saelind nodded and bolted for the doors, already so close to tears that she couldn't keep from breathing hard.

She had no desire to stick around after finding out that another nightmare was coming to pass.

After she'd gotten burned, she had vowed to never go to a pool or even put on a swimsuit of any variety.

Now she had no choice but to break that vow.

"This sucks!" Saelind howled, bolting for the lockers. "I hate this! Why me?!"

Nobody answered, and when all was said and done, the only thing that filled the air was a somber howl.

She was screwed.


	9. Chapter 8: Friend?

**Chapter Eight: Friend?  
**

Once she'd grabbed her bag and had gotten off Ouran's massive grounds, Saelind got herself under control and headed down the street towards the grocery store. She'd already decided that she hated the Host Club, thoroughly and completely: nothing would change her views on it. However, that didn't change her reality: they had power over her, and even if she didn't like them, she wasn't stupid enough to try getting out of this the easy way.

If Kyouya Ootori thought she was going to grovel like a dog, however, he was in for one hell of a surprise.

"I'm not a dog," Saelind growled, shaking her head and touching her left lower canine with a wince. "I'm a god damn dragon. If that scheming bastard tries to take things too far, I'm going to bite the hell out of him."

It was true: she would bite him... well, metaphorically speaking.

On her way to the grocery store, Saelind walked around the corner of an overpass and a girl unexpectedly crashed into her. The momentum of the impact knocked Saelind down and sent the other girl flipping clean over her body with a startled shriek: the black-haired Russian whined after she hit the ground, muscles throbbing from the abuse her upper torso had just taken. Then she slowly crawled to all fours and looked up: Ami Kikiroshi, the Asian girl she'd offered advice to on the roof a few days ago, was patting around for her glasses since they'd flown off her face.

"Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no!" she chanted, looking completely terrified. "My glasses! They didn't break, did they?!"

Saelind glanced at the concrete beside her and saw the spectacles lying unharmed.

Without a word, she picked them up and tapped the brunette's shoulder to get her attention; when she looked up, Saelind carefully put the girl's glasses on her face and stood up, holding out her unscarred hand in a silent offer to help her up. The girl's cheeks flamed bright red when she realized who she was looking at, and for a moment she averted her eyes... but then, almost shyly, she took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"Are you all right?" Saelind asked in a neutral tone, glancing down at her scraped knee. "You're bleeding."

"I'll be fine!" the girl cheerfully protested, patting her pocket. "I'm a bit of a klutz, so I always keep band-aids in my pocket."

"I see," Saelind mumbled, blinking as a wave of nausea swept over her. "I apologize for not looking where I was going."

"Same here," Ami stammered, rubbing the back of her neck; she was wearing a pair of skinny jeans that had been stylishly torn at the knees as well as a loose-fitting hooded jacket, but planted on top of her head was a fairly adorable cat-beanie with two strings that fell down below her chin. At the end of each string was a large cotton ball. "Even with my glasses on, sometimes I simply don't pay attention to where I'm going."

"Mm..." the tiny girl mumbled, nodding before she began walking away; surprisingly enough, the taller girl started jogging beside her.

"Would you mind if I kept you some company?" Ami quietly asked, smiling hopefully as she jogged. "I'm out on my after-school run, but I've already covered the distance I was supposed to. I was on my way home when I bumped into you, but I'm not exactly the kind of girl who enjoys staying inside all day."

"What you do is your decision," Saelind deadpanned, giving a noncommittal shrug before shoving her hands in her pockets; she hated the leather glove on her left hand. It was an extra precaution Kyouya had taken to prevent people from noticing her scars, but the glove was fairly uncomfortable, and she really didn't like how it felt on her skin. "I'm heading to the store, so there's really not that much to see."

"Oh, are you going shopping?" Ami quipped, beaming in a cheerful manner from behind her glasses.

"No, I'm going so I can help my annoying neighbor carry his things home," the girl muttered with a shudder. "He and his father are the kind of people you can't exactly say 'no' to... in fact, I don't even think they understand what the word _means._ I figured out pretty quickly that going along with what they ask for is easier than defying them... but still, it kind of bugs me that they never leave me alone. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, you know?"

"Well, why?" the brunette inquired, cocking her head. "I mean, you seem nice. Are they annoying? Or, do they simply ask for too much?"

"Both," Saelind snorted, rolling her eyes in dismay. "You have no idea! Ranka is a literal transvestite who asks me to help make dinner for them every single day, he's always overly loud, he's almost _obscenely_ cheerful, and he never lets me stay in my own home after I get out of Ouran. That's not even the worst part: now, his... er, _son..._ makes me to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants it. And because of a few things that happened a while ago, I can't exactly turn him down."

"Sounds tough," Ami murmured, pondering the situation with a frown; then her eyes lit up. "Wait, does that mean you're a good cook?"

"Huh? Well, um, I guess you could say that," the skinny girl carefully admitted, turning around a busy corner and wincing when she realized that the streets were starting to get crowded. "My family is from overseas... and... well, I was taught by a chef at one point, so you _could_ say I'm _decent_ at it. Not perfect... just average."

"Wow! That's awesome!" Ami squealed, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. "I've always wanted to learn how to cook, but I've never really had the talent for it! Tell me, is it really that difficult to make fancy cuisine dishes? My new mother says that becoming a chef is only for people who want to work in low-class restaurants, but I don't believe that at all!"

"She's wrong," Saelind immediately gasped, head flying up; she looked at the girl with an open mouth. "Definitely wrong: if she thinks that, I don't exactly know what to say... most of the high-class restaurants that people go to are ONLY high class because the food they make is prepared by a master chef! It's not because of the building, or the fancy decorations, or even the suits and clothing requirements! It's the person standing behind the cook stove that gives the restaurant its reputation!"

"You seem to know a lot about it," Ami noted, grinning when the girl shrank into her blazer like a turtle. "Do you have any good, easy recipes that I might be able to try? I'm a total beginner, but I really, really love making good food... plus, maybe I can win my mother over if I prove to her that some of my dreams are worthwhile. You already helped sort out a lot of things with your advice, and I can never thank you enough for that, but the two of us still butt heads now and then since we're totally different people."

"Well... um, yeah, I could probably come up with some easy dishes," Saelind reluctantly admitted, feeling abnormally awkward for some reason. "Although, a lot of the things I know how to make are European and Western... and the few Japanese dishes I _do_ know how to make generally revolve around things like Omelet rice and maybe one or two curry recipes. So... if you'd be fine with those types of recipes, I could give you quite a bit."

"Foreign recipes?! WOW!" the girl shrieked, throwing her hands into the air and startling the smaller girl into staring at her. "You have no idea how much that would mean to me, Saelind! A foreign recipe would definitely be awesome to try! Thank you so much!"

For a long moment, Saelind merely stared at her giggling face... but then, in the blink of an eye, her expression softened.

And she smiled for the first time in years.

Her frigid teal eye gentled and the iciness inside it melted... then, her soft lips tilted upwards in an almost beautiful manner.

Ami's grin of delight wiped itself clean from the shock of seeing that smile: she stared at the shorter girl with a startled expression, not even believing how beautiful her face had become with that one expression. When Saelind turned her face away and gently hugged herself, Ami covered her mouth and her eyes widened: she hadn't been expecting to see such an amazing expression being directed at her from someone as unsociable as Saelind.

For a moment, she'd looked almost angellic.

"You're welcome," the black-haired girl gruffly mumbled, hunching her shoulders and hastily picking up her pace. "I'll come up with the recipes later on tonight and give them to you on Monday. Does meeting on the rooftop at lunch sound like a good time?"

"O-o-of c-course," Ami weakly stuttered, face going bright red; she absently patted her cheeks. "Yeah, that'd be perfect!"

"I'm glad you think so," Saelind stated simply. "It's been a long time since I've taught someone how to make food."

What startled her, however, was the fact that she actually meant what she'd said: she really was glad.

"You're a girl, aren't you?" Ami suddenly asked, making Saelind's feet halt. "You... you're a girl."

"What do you mean?" Saelind stammered, eye widening in horror; she had a mental flash of Kyouya sending his private police force after her and throwing her into some dark dungeon "Eek! I'm… I'm a b-boy… okay?"

"No, you're not," Ami retorted simply, looking at her with stunned eyes. "You're a girl! I _knew_ it! So _that's _why I wasn't crushing on you!"

"What?!" Saelind squawked, staring at the girl in shock. _"Crushing_ on me?! What in the world do you mean?! I'm a guy!"

"Stop," Ami sighed, rolling her eyes before she poked Saelind's breasts; the girl instantly squeaked and clutched her chest. "I figured it out the day after you helped me. For starters, you don't have an Adam's apple. On top of that, your voice is too high, your figure isn't right, and you also forgot to tie your chest flat. You are a _girl... _but what I _don't_ get is why you're _pretending_ to be a _guy!"_

"It's complicated, and you can't tell anyone: if you do, I'll rip your tongue out!" Saelind stated savagely, glaring at Ami with an angry expression that didn't match the frightened look in her eye. "Since you've already figured it out, there's nothing I can do... so, yes, I'm a girl, but you really can't tell anyone!"

"Okay, look: what you're doing isn't my secret to tell," Ami snorted, cocking her hip. "If you want to pose as a guy, it's not my problem: plus, I think you look better the the guy's uniform than you would in the ugly buttercup-yellow Princess Pom Pom things we all have to wear."

"Wait, so you noticed how ugly those things were, too?" Saelind snorted, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought I was the only one. Nobody even realizes it."

"It's the most revolting school uniform I've ever seen," Ami sighed, looking up at the sky, "but I have to admit: I _do_ feel like a princess when I'm wearing it."

The girls also looked like princesses, too, but Saelind kept that bitter remark confined inside her head.

"Oi! Look who's here!" a male voice suddenly laughed, making the girl look up with a scowl. "It's Ami-the-Plain-Janey! Never thought I'd see a washboard like _you_ out and about after school! What got you out of the library? You on a play date with another little rich friend?"

"Shut up, Genji!" the slender girl snapped, face flaming red with anger before she self-consciously covered her chest. "Stop acting like such a jerk!"

Saelind scowled when the boy she'd incapacitated on her first day swaggered out of the crowd, joking and laughing with five of his buddies.

They all looked like a bunch of delinquents since they'd already changed out of their Ouran uniforms.

"Why should I?" Genji sneered, glancing at her with a cocky expression. "You think you're popular just because you're friends with Suoh?"

"If I were the kind of person who would _ever_ think something so conceited," Ami calmly pointed out, planting a hand on her hip, "Suoh and I wouldn't have stayed friends for eleven years, moron: he's not the kind of guy who hangs out with people like that. Which is probably why he ignores _you._"

"You think I care?" the Asian boy simpered, mocking the girl's words. "Aww... that so cute! Look, guys, she thinks I care about that! Ha!"

"Come on, Saelind... let's just get out of here," Ami muttered, glancing down at the tiny Russian girl. "These jerks aren't even worth my time."

"Oh, no way!" Genji exclaimed, eyes widening in total shock. "Dude! You're hangin' with the Monster Man?! Nasty!"

"You mean the creep who had the diseased skin?" another boy asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "That's him?!"

"Yeah, that's Monster Man! Little old MM!" Genji laughed, pointing a finger straight at the tiny girl in front of him. "He's a freak, _Ami_! I knew you had weird tastes since you're a total bookworm, but I never would have thought you'd become friends with _that_ thing!"

Saelind did nothing but stand there... she was used to this kind of treatment, so it didn't bother her as much as it should have.

"Shut up!" Ami snapped, making her twitch slightly in surprise. "You don't know anything about him _or_ me, so don't even try talking down to us! Especially since _you_ have no right to do so! You swagger everywhere with your chest puffed out, acting as though you're a genius and always at the top of your class, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't a single person _anywhere_ who _doesn't_ know that you've got the lowest grades in Ouran Academy!"

"What'd you just say?" Genji snapped, smirk flying out the window. "If you don't want your teeth busted, I suggest you shut your mouth now."

"No way, tough guy," the brunette snorted, cocking her hip with a raised eyebrow before flicking her glasses up her nose. "You were so eager to talk shit about me and Saelind, it's only fair that I do the same thing! Just because you have a fake, daddy's-boy reputation to uphold doesn't mean I'm gonna let you slander our names: real life doesn't work like that, so if you're through acting like a little girl on her period, go home and play with your dolls."

"I said to shut up!" Genji hissed, swaggering forward and leaning down towards her face in a threatening manner. "I don't care if you _are_ Suoh's friend, bitch: we're not on the Academy grounds, so I won't get in trouble if I fuck your face up. Plus, who the hell would believe your second-class family over mine? You only got into Ouran because you're an honor student like that Fujioka kid."

However, the moment he lifted his hand and tried to push her, Saelind's fingers snapped out of her sleeve and she gripped his wrist.

"Violence against women is where I draw the line," the small girl stated coldly, lifting her head with an animalistic hiss; when she looked up at the boy, however, her teal eye was sharper than a blade and her lips were drawn back, revealing the glint of her fangs. "Look, _dog,_ if you want to _bark_ at people who are better than you, I suggest you do it somewhere else. Leave her alone and back off."

"Ooh, looks like you've got a boyfriend," Genji sneered, jerking his hand out of her grasp. "He's so possessive!"

"You know, even without a romantic relationship, _all_ friends are supposed to be like that," Ami smugly pointed out, brown eyes shining with triumph. "It's kind of sad that you don't have anyone like that, Genji... it really says something about the kind of people you hang out with."

His smile turned into a glare almost immediately.

"Whatever," he sneered, turning around and storming through the crowd of adults who'd stopped to watch the scene. "Not like I care."

Saelind waited until he was gone to relax, but before she could do anything else, Ami let out a squeal and threw her arms around her.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed, laughing loudly when the girl hissed and abruptly flailed around. "Calm down! I know you don't like being touched, I really get it, but this is my way of saying thank you! I won't ever do it again after this, I promise, but I've never felt so good! That jerk has been harassing me for months and I've never managed to make him back off! Thank yooooou! Saelind, you were totally awesome!"

"You're welcome, you're welcome!" the girl squeaked, flailing her arms in dismay. "Just don't touch me anymore! Please, get off!"

"All right," Ami laughed, letting go of her and spinning around in a gleeful circle. "He's totally wrong! You're not a monster, you're a true friend!"

Saelind's fingers froze in the middle of straightening out her blazer, and for a moment... she couldn't think.

She couldn't talk.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't even breathe.

"A... friend?" the girl finally asked, still completely frozen. "What do you mean...? Are you saying... you don't think I'm... ugly?"

"EH?! Of _course_ not!" Ami squeaked, glancing at her in shock. "Why the heck would I think something like that? Sael-chan, you're not ugly at all!"

"So, my scars..." Saelind muttered weakly, shoulders starting to shake. "You... you don't think they're... bad?"

"No, why would I?" Ami asked, frowning in total confusion. "Seriously, your scars are totally fine! They're part of who you are, right?"

"Yeah," the pale girl murmured, shrugging a little before she continued walking towards the store; it was only two blocks away. "They are."

_Friend?_ Saelind dazedly wondered, clutching her chest and lifting her eye to the clouds. _I have a friend?_

When Ami happily started chatting again, she didn't realize that Saelind was staring at the sky with the same soft expression she'd seen earlier.

The same smile that had once been able to make anyone, no matter who they were, feel safe.


	10. Chapter 9: The Bully and the Blonde

**Chapter Nine: The Bully and the Blonde  
**

Honestly, there were two things that completely cemented Saelind's friendship with Ami Kikiroshi.

The first was the incident with Genji, and the second was the Attack of the Manager—the latter of which occurred the next day.

Haruhi had been kept back from school due to a serious fever, so the Host Club had gone to visit her the moment classes had ended. In truth, the black-haired girl had been left to fend for herself for once, even in class. Which was a blessing, since she really couldn't stand the obnoxiousness of the Host Club: however, instead of being left to enjoy the bliss of being alone, Ami had hesitantly tapped the table she'd sat at during lunch and practically melted into a puddle after asking if she could sit there with her.

Against her better judgement, and mostly out of pity since Ami seemed to be a nervous wreck, Saelind had agreed with a curt nod.

Which had, surprisingly, led to a series of conversations about food.

After a while, she forgot where she was and actually got immersed in the conversations, which was so rare of an occurrence that even Saelind_ herself _was kind of surprised by it. The two of them were sitting together in the Ouran cafeteria, eating their lunch while they discussed the basics of making certain dishes, when Saelind saw a clipboard-wielding girl with dyed blonde hair bearing down on them. Saelind's face instantly pulled into a scowl because she knew for a fact that the girl—Renge Houshakuji—was coming to talk to her.

Something she absolutely hated doing, anyway.

However, after a moment, she realized that the blonde girl's gaze was fixated on Ami, as well, and her expression darkened even further.

She didn't need to be a psychic to know that trouble was about to rain down on them.

Because she was from an extremely high-standing family, Renge had acquired a great deal of power—and because she was powerful, she had acquired even more popularity. It was the old chicken-and-egg conundrum adapted to the high school pecking order. As the manager of the Host Club's Decoration Committee and who the hell knew what else, Renge was in charge of executing the décor for the Club's random themes. The choosing part she did herself, but the execution was usually delegated to others—by force, if necessary.

Renge arrived at their table and stood there expectantly, clicking her ballpoint pen to indicate her orders were forthcoming.

"Okay, Miss Bookworm," she stated haughtily, looking at her papers, "I'm going to need some help with the club prep for next Tuesday's pool opening party. As you know, the theme is world gems. I need construction paper and colored foil cutouts of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and an assortment of star and moon shapes for the sky. About a hundred and fifty of each would be about enough. The materials are all in Sensei Kakavarashi's art room, so if you could, like, go ahead and stay after school today in order to get that done, that would be fabulous."

Saelind sarcastically rolled her eye upon hearing the instructions.

Renge always issued her orders the same way: she'd 'like you to go ahead and do this,' as if it were something you'd seriously been considering doing all day long anyway—and the little addendum, 'that would be fabulous,' was equally meaningless. Ami, however, huddled in on herself, and Saelind was horrified when she realized that the girl was literally going to give in.

Just as Ami was opening her mouth, the pale girl snapped her schoolbook shut and interrupted her with a sharp glare.

"Sorry, but she can't," Saelind stated in a neutral tone, glancing up at the blonde with a cold teal eye. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

Renge stared at her, temporarily at a loss for words: truthfully, she looked thoroughly confused, which was both amusing and pathetic.

"Um, excuse me?" she inquired after a moment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Ami can't help you out today. We're working on a Biology project together in the library after school," Saelind stoically retorted, flicking her eye to the left and watching as the stunned brunette started blinking owlishly behind her glasses. Renge let out a small laugh of amusement before glancing around to see if anyone else was witnessing this perfect moment of comedy.

"Well, that's great, but my beloved Kyouya really does need his gems and stars and moons," the blonde girl tittered, giving her a superior expression. "You're the boy who just joined the Host Club, aren't you? Well, maybe you didn't realize this yet, but I'm your Manager: I'm afraid Miss Bookworm is going to need to go ahead and help me out today."

Saelind bit back the urge to fire back a retort about where she should consider sticking her gems, moons, and stars.

"She can't," the girl stated firmly, teal eye flashing fiercely despite her calm demeanor. "She's coming to the library with me, so you'll just need to 'go ahead' and ask somebody else. Oh, and for the record? Her name is Ami—not 'Miss Bookworm'. I'd bet seven hundred dollars out of my own pocket that, as the self-proclaimed manager of the Host Club, you wouldn't like to be called 'Miss Ditzy' all the time, would you?"

"_You can't talk to me like that!"_ the girl shrieked, mouth falling open and face turning red. "My father works for the Ootori group!"

"Oh, but I can, since my rank in nobility outstrips yours," Saelind stated simply, carefully adjusting her bangs to make sure her scars were hidden before getting to her feet. "Now, if you're done, please try showing a little bit of respect towards other people by acknowledging the fact that they have names."

With that, she looked at Ami, who seemed to be both awed and impressed by her rebellious attitude. Renge, however, was so completely unaccustomed to hearing anyone say the word 'no' that she simply stood where she was with her mouth hanging open.

"What's wrong with you?!" the Host Club's manager demanded. "Are you really turning this down? Where is your school spirit?! Don't you care about the Host Club?!"

"Forgive me for reciprocating the feelings this school has towards me, but that's simply how it's going to remain," Saelind cryptically retorted, giving Renge a nonchalant stare that held no feeling whatsoever. "Just in case blondes like you really _are_ as stupid as they seem, I'll put it in dumb-people speak: I don't give a damn about this school, or its festivities, because the 'spirit' hanging around here is vile enough to make me want to vomit. Have a nice day."

"You're a jerk!" Renge hissed, looking to be on the verge of tears. "You can't do this!"

"Sorry, but I just did," Saelind snorted, standing up and hefting her bag before glancing at the brunette with a raised eyebrow. "Now... where was I? Oh, right: as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, if you really want to be able to prepare a proper European dish and make it taste authentic, you'll need to gather all of the ingredients beforehand on top of proper cookware. Shall we discuss this on our way to class?"

Ami's face practically lit up from the inside out at the question: she grinned up at her and nodded frantically before grabbing her own book bag and following her out of the cafeteria, leaving Renge standing alone by the empty lunch table. As they walked through the double doors leading to the hallway, Saelind allowed herself a secret smirk.

She didn't want to admit it, but even though she was definitely gonna be in trouble, doing that had felt pretty damn good.

"So, we're working on the Biology project together?" Ami asked hopefully, bouncing down the hallway beside her with light, dancing footsteps. "Really?"

"If you want to. It's not like we don't need to get it done anyway," Saelind snorted, raising a disinterested eyebrow as she watched the brunette twirl around yet again in delight. "I don't have to help the Host Club today, so if you want, we can start right after the last bell. Plus, you needed some third-party intervention with that irritating airhead: I didn't need to be a genius to see that you were going to give in."

"Well, thanks for the assist," Ami sighed, shaking her head, "but I'm not sure that refusing her was such a good idea."

Saelind instantly turned and peered up at her with a skeptical teal eye.

"Oh?" the pale girl drawled, folding her arms and tilting her head to the side; her hair slid away and revealed the scars on her chin, making Ami avert her eyes for a small moment. "In other words, you were just _aching_ inside to spend hours cutting out all the shapes in the Lucky Charms cereal for some Asian Barbie who doesn't normally give you the time of day, to decorate a pool party that I'm betting you have no intention of attending? There's something wrong with that picture."

"Er, well, when you put it that way…" Ami giggled, smiling a little before a frown slowly wrinkled her small nose, "but seriously, Saelind, it's not smart to make girls like Renge angry. Her father works for the Ootori company! That's not a joke!"

"Oh? Well, I'm the daughter of a Grand Duchess," Saelind deadpanned, watching with a lazy eye as Ami blinked. "That's not a joke, either."

"Still..." Ami sighed, biting her lip. "It's not smart."

"You can't be serious," Saelind deadpanned, regarding her with a disbelieving half-lidded stare. "You can't possibly stand there with a straight face and tell me that the threats from Renge and her Daddy's little minions are worth anything to you."

"Of course not," Ami replied indignantly, raising an eyebrow before she pushed her glasses up her nose. "I'm not scared of that."

"Okay, so what's the big deal?" the smaller girl inquired, trying to find the reason behind her feelings. "Renge will give us the cold shoulder, so what?"

Ami shook her head, but she still looked unconvinced: Saelind could tell that she was extremely uncomfortable, so... against her will, she hesitantly lifted her hand and almost fearfully stretched it out to her. Just before her fingers brushed against the other girl's arm, she drew her fingers back ever so slightly... but then she put her violently trembling hand on Ami's arm in an act of reassurance.

She instantly jumped and looked at Saelind in surprise.

"I thought you hated physical contact," she murmured, blinking when Saelind gave her arm an awkward pat and hastily withdrew her hand. "Didn't you?"

"Yeah, I do, but come on! Snap out of it already," the shorter girl sighed, hiding the arm she'd used to touch Ami behind her back. "There's really nothing to worry about: this is only one part of your life, and all of the things you think are important right _now_ will seem meaningless when our real lives begin. In short, this is High School, not a presidential election: forget all about the wrath of Renge and go call your family. Tell them that we're staying after school to start a Bio project together."

Something inside the girl's eyes warmed up after Saelind said this, but the girl literally almost jumped out of her skin when the brunette threw her arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Before she could think, Saelind hissed at her like a snake and tried to pull back... but by that point, she'd already let go.

When she straightened her ugly yellow princess uniform, she seemed to have found her resolve.

"Okay, Saelind," Ami murmured, nodding with a smile as they began walking down the hall again. "Thank you."

However, the girl found out what Ami had been worried about later that day.

She was standing alone at her locker just before the final bell, thinking about what sorts of dishes Ami might be able to make with little difficulty as she gathered her books together. The brunette had called her step-mother earlier and she'd been given permission to stay after school. Oh, and she'd also asked Ami to 'bring her new friend home to say hello' after they were finished. Saelind didn't know how to feel about that request, but it _didn't_ make her insides comfortable at all.

In fact, she was inclined to say she didn't like the idea of meeting her family at all: she wanted to snarl just from the thought of it.

Just as she was worrying about this, a boy seemed to come out of nowhere, like an asteroid suddenly hurtling into the atmosphere and bursting into flames: Koizu Masaki—a tennis player who liked to harass people smaller than him. The athlete didn't say a word when Saelind closed her locker, only stood there with his muscular arms folded across his chest. The tiny girl took a generous amount of time closing the lock and spinning the dial, but when she couldn't think of anything else to do, she simply turned and looked up with an expectant expression.

Masaki was gazing at her with a sneer on his face, but his small brown eyes were full of venom.

Honestly, he wasn't the handsomest of Asian boys out there, but he'd spent such an enormous amount of time and money enhancing everything he had that people couldn't help admiring how he looked. In other words, Masaki might have been plain in another reality, but in this one he carried himself like the Prince of Persia. Saelind, however, wasn't going to try and initiate a conversation in the face of his open hostility; nor was she going to walk away like a coward. She was going to stand her ground—and that's what she did.

The girl merely stood there and stared right back at the tennis player, waiting to hear what he wanted to say.

However, when Masaki extended his hand and shoved her into the locker as hard as he could, Saelind hissed and bared her fangs.

The jock looked so startled by her reaction that he actually jumped away for a moment.

"If you value the movement in your fingers," Saelind stated coldly, growling deep in the back of her throat like a wild dog, "I would recommend keeping your hands off me. I _will not_hesitate to _bite_ your stupid ass, so remember that in the future."

"Well, well, well, look who's acting tough," he stated with a smirk. "So, Monster Man, I hear you're too busy and self-important to help Renge with the Host Club's Decoration Committee. My father also works for the Ootori company: don't think you can keep it all quiet anymore."

"Keep what all quiet?" Saelind asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "The fact that you enjoy harassing people who are smaller than you?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean," Masaki said nastily, a slow grin spreading across his face. "I'm talking about your situation."

Saelind stood impassively and waited for him to continue, checking her watch and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Um, hello?" she finally snorted, looking up at him with a quirked eyebrow. "I've got a life to live, and you're cutting it short by boring me."

"I've recently heard a few things about you," he chuckled nastily. "According to what I heard, your family is fucked up. You and your twin sister used to switch roles when things got stressful, didn't you? But then, a fire burned your ugly face off! Honestly, those scars are a blessing, since they masked just how nasty you looked. I also heard that there was a casualty in that fire... some random baby sitter who had Down Syndrome and couldn't even talk without slurring. Some parents you must have had: your mother is one of the richest people in the world, and yet, she chose a retard as a baby sitter."

Saelind could feel her expression changing as he spoke, but she somehow managed to keep her temper in check despite what he'd said.

However, the moment he brought _Her_ into it, Saelind's expression rapidly flashed from neutral-tempered to enraged within the span of a second. By the time he finished speaking, the girl's lips were drawn into a snarl, she was growling even more fiercely, and her black hair was standing on end. There were so many things she could have said to those insults: she could have laughed and told the loser to go knock himself out. She could have told him to go buy a brain, since his didn't seem to be working. She could have stared through him and walked right on by as though nothing had happened. But instead, she found herself paralyzed with enraged hatred, clutching her backpack and burning holes into Masaki's face with her eye.

The boy's sneer was so snide and ugly that, in that moment, he almost set off her temper.

That's when she started praying he was finished.

"If you're smart," Saelind finally stated in an extremely low tone, "you'll walk away right now. If you're not smart... you should call an ambulance, because you're gonna need one by the time I'm done with you."

Just as Masaki froze, Saelind heard footsteps, peals of laughter, the familiar voices of the Ouran girls.

_Lucky little bastard,_ she thought silently, letting her shoulders slump a little. _I can't do anything now._

The group slowed down as they neared Saelind and Masaki, but the girl never took her one-eyed glare off Misaki's face. Apparently, Renge was with the group that had arrived, but she had decided to hang back: in fact, she looked kind of uncomfortable, and she didn't seem all that eager to join in. Masaki finally backed away since Saelind cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck.

The group of students looked back and forth, worried about whether or not something was unfolding.

"Hey, Renge, need any help with the decorations?" Masaki called, voice echoing up and down the tiled corridor. "I'll volunteer!"

However, the Asian girl merely turned her nose up and started walking away with a fair amount of graceful haughtiness.

"No, thank you!" she snootily called. "Only the members of the Host Club and those _associated_ with it have the right to help out!"

Saelind glared after her when the students passed by: Masaki hesitated for a moment, then rubbed his hair and trotted after them.

"Freak," he called over his shoulder. "You're nothing but talk."

"Just remember what I said about touching me," Saelind called back fiercely. "I wasn't kidding: I WILL bite you next time."

The boy twitched and his feet stumbled, but then he hurried onward. Once he was gone, Saelind whirled around and punched her locker so hard that she accidentally rent a hole in the metal. When she started bleeding, she looked at her split knuckles and sighed before she headed down to the infirmary.

_If he ever says anything about Alexandria again,_ she silently growled, shaking her head as the anger welled up, _I might just end up killing him._

And that, sadly, wasn't even a threat.

It was an unwanted promise.


	11. Chapter 10: A Synonym for Trust

**Chapter Ten: A Synonym for 'Trust'  
**

Saelind was relieved to have someplace to go after Masaki's attack: it gave her something to think about, something to distract her mind from the anger of hearing him slander her family name. When she met Ami in the library like they'd planned, the black-haired girl was still fuming slightly, but she didn't say anything about to her self-proclaimed acquaintance.

Admittedly, Ami had nabbed them a great table on the second floor of the Southern Courtyard's library. Saelind herself had never been inside any of them considering several students used the libraries as their relaxation spots. However, this one was supposed to be the quietest, and on top of that, the spot they were sitting in had enormous shelves from floor to ceiling that sheltered them from the librarian and the multitudes of other students.

In short: it was a good place for two girls to work in peace and quiet.

They'd planned on working on their Biology project, of course, but it was also the very first time that Ami and Saelind had genuinely hung out together by themselves. Or in Saelind's case, to voluntarily hang out with anyone since middle school. If she was going to be honest, doing this made her extremely uncomfortable, and her anxiety levels had spiked up to the maximum.

To a person like her, the word 'Trust' was synonymous with 'Betrayal.'

In short, a tragedy in disguise.

There was also the fact that she was by no means a social butterfly. Then again... when compared to the 'friends' she used to have, there was definitely something different about Ami. The moment she'd seen the girl running for the rooftop stairs, Saelind had felt some strange emotions flood through her... gratitude, longing, and a sense of unidentifiable relief. She'd felt somewhat grateful towards the girl without even knowing why, and she was still being a lot more lenient with Ami than she ever had with other people... but this reaction was happening for reasons that she wasn't able to place.

That spark... that feeling of familiarity... it had only increased as time had passed.

And the moment the brunette had accepted her scars, she'd felt as though she'd known Ami for a very, very long time.

Saelind felt weird about it, because it was almost as though the two of them had met before, somewhere.

Just as she was pondering this, Ami caught her attention by doing a horrifyingly accurate imitation of Renge bearing down on them with her clipboard. She was soon mocking how the girl had strode towards them with decorative intent, tossing her close-cropped brown hair and tapping one finger on an imaginary clipboard. Saelind actually cracked a barely-noticeable smile by the end of her imitation, since it was actually alarmingly accurate.

"Well, that was interesting," she deadpanned, tilting her head to the side. "I'm impressed, Ami, I really am: you managed to fully impersonate a moron."

"Oh, be nice!" Ami giggled, flapping a dismissive hand. "Renge's actually really nice once you get to know her!"

"I'd rather eat nails," Saelind stated seriously, shuddering violently when Ami scoffed and quirked an eyebrow. "I hate people like that."

Ami fell silent after that, and for a moment, she did nothing but stare at Saelind with a solemn expression.

When she'd gone to get the books she'd needed, the table had been completely free of everything... but when she'd come back, several changes had been made, and it made her realize just how uncomfortable Saelind really was. This kind of treatment was obviously new for her, and somehow... Ami knew that the books Saelind had spread out on the table were subconsciously meant to be a sort of shield from everyone else. Ever since the day they'd met on the rooftop, she'd noticed that the black-haired girl watched the world with a haunted expression in her eye.

It wasn't until the previous day in History Class that Ami had seen anyone else with the same look: it was a picture in a textbook about Jewish people who had suffered untold amounts of pain and fear during World War II.

People who looked like they had lost all hope… the eyes of the forsaken.

The thought of what Saelind had gone through to give her such an awful expression made Ami want to cry.

Saelind was already scribbling a few notes down in her notebook, black hair falling across her face. Ami sat cross-legged in her chair, watching the smaller girl work, but the expression in her eye was unreadable. Saelind knew the girl was looking at her; she simply didn't know why. So, after enduring several long moments of her staring, she flicked her eye up and returned it.

"What?" Saelind asked, raising a thin black eyebrow. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Well... we're friends now, aren't we?" Ami hesitantly asked, swallowing and pushing her glasses up her nose. "We're friends, right?"

For a moment, Saelind merely stared at her in confusion, not processing the question.

Then she narrowed her eyes and her soft mouth pulled taught as the memories of everyone who'd ever turned their back on her came to mind: she was just about to spit out a venomous 'no' when something occurred to her and she froze. Everyone she'd cared about back in Russia had turned away because her face had gotten scarred up: Ami was one of the few who didn't seem to mind it all that much, and she was still asking if the two of them were friends.

In that moment, it hit her with a surprising amount of shock that the brunette was probably correct in asking... because deep down, she honestly trusted her a little.

"You know what?" Saelind deadpanned, blinking rapidly with an amazed expression on her face. "As surprised as I am to be admitting it, I think we might be."

"So, we're _real_ friends...?" Ami mumbled, twiddling her thumbs. "Not like some of the other girls in our class are with each other, right?"

"Sorry, but I'm not that shallow," Saelind drawled, arching an eyebrow as a crooked smile spread across her face. "As of right now, on my end, I wouldn't say that we're true friends yet... and with the kind of issues I have concerning trust, we might never become close like that. At the moment, however, you have a little bit of my trust... and that isn't something I give out lightly. For example, out of every moron in this school, you're probably the only person who has even a smidge of it."

"Not even Fujioka-san?" Ami asked, eyes widening in surprise behind her glasses. "I mean, I thought you two were good friends because he's always hanging out with you after school, and doesn't his dad ask you to help with chores?"

"They do, but that that doesn't mean I like them," Saelind instantly grumbled, face turning sour. "In fact, I don't like any of them. At all. I'm only hanging around them because they're forcing me to. And since Tamaki literally put himself in danger to save my life a while back, I really don't have a choice but to stay in the Host Club since Kyouya Ootori is blackmailing me."

"Oh," Ami sighed, looking down at the table with a shy expression. "So, he's that kind of person?"

"What's on your mind?" Saelind asked, quirking an eyebrow when she froze. "I can tell there's something you want to ask me, so... what is it?"

"W-w-well," Ami stammered, waving her hands as a blush tinted her cherubic cheeks, "l-lately I've been feeling like, if I needed to tell you something, or I wanted to, you know… tell you something about myself… that I could. Trust you, that is. That it wouldn't change out being friends. And, I was kind of hoping I could, if you wanted to listen... but, if you don't feel like it, that's okay, too!"

Saelind snorted and her eye softened in reluctant amusement: nobody could possibly have a secret as strange as some of her own.

"Go on," Saelind murmured, going back to jotting down her notes, "feel free to talk while we work."

"Well, okay," Ami asked grimly, coloring in an 'O' on the cover of her textbook with blue ink. "It's just… about the upcoming pool opening. You know how you saved me from Renge, and that you thought I didn't want to attend it?"

"Yes," Saelind said gently, encouraging her. "I remember that."

"Well," Ami sighed, shivering a little, "you see, I—"

However, the girl jerked to a halt and snapped her mouth shut when the two of them heard a loud thud.

Saelind's head flew up and she glanced to the right in time to see a pink face with long ears flashing out of sight.

_Wasn't that Usa-chan? _Saelind wondered, eye narrowing in a suspicious manner. _Is Honey spying on the two of us?_

"Did you hear that?" Ami asked, looking a little uncomfortable. "What was it? Is somebody watching us?"

"Something probably fell," Saelind murmured stoically, ignoring the shaking black-clad knees she could see behind a nearby shelf in favor of flipping open her Biology textbook. "Don't worry about it too much."

"It was that green book," Ami said, pointing at the green hardcover on the floor. "I think..."

"Okay, then, " the girl replied, looking at a section in the textbook on cellular division. "The green book fell out of the shelf and onto the floor."

"I'll put it back, then," Ami sighed, rolling her eyes before walking over to the stack, picking up the green book—which was surprisingly very, very heavy—and shoving it back onto the shelf. "So... anyway, as I was saying..."

"Before you say anything," Saelind deviously interrupted, glancing up at her with a sly smirk, "would you like to try some of my mother's famous Russian cake?"

"Huh?" Ami asked, looking thoroughly confused by the randomness of the question. "Your... mother's famous... wha...?"

However, when a gleeful squeal of delight unexpected split the air just behind the library shelf, Saelind's smirk widened into a savage grin. She snapped her textbook closed and watched as Honey instantly bounced around the shelves and hurried over to the library table with shining eyes. His appearance scared the hell out of Ami, but Saelind merely smiled with a twitching eyebrow.

"Famous Russian Cake?!" the blonde squealed, looking at her with a sparkling expression. "Can I have some, too, Sael-chan?! I love cake!"

"I knew it," she sighed, pressing a hand against her head. "Why are you spying on us?"

Honey gasped when he realized that he had exposed himself.

Eyes widening in mortification, he huddled down on himself and pressed his lips together.

"Tama-chan asked me to," he whined, shivering violently and hugging his rabbit. "He told me to tell you that everyone feels bad about leaving you behind!"

"I'm fine, and since there's no cake here, you can go back to visiting Haruhi," Saelind stated sourly. "Also, give him a message: I'm busy with... a... f-f-friend..."

Honey's eyes widened and he gasped in delight before glancing at Ami. Then he squealed and gleefully ran out of sight.

"What's going on?" Ami asked, looking at her with a large eye. "S-Saelind?"

"He probably followed me," Saelind muttered, rubbing her eye in frustration. "Anyway, let's just forget it: you were about to tell me something, right?"

The girl blinked and hesitantly nodded.

"I... I just wanted to know... i-if you had a partner for the pool aquatics yet," Ami sighed, tensing her shoulders. "I'm kind of nervous about doing it, but since I'm a frequent guest, I've already been recommended to participate in half of the competitions! And... and there's also... I don't know how to swim!"

When she huddled down, Saelind merely stared at her with an open mouth.

For the first time in a long time, she had been struck dumb: she didn't want to accept, but she didn't want to risk alienating someone she... might be friends with.

"I'm an Olympics level swimmer," Saelind shakily admitted, shaking her head, "so I could teach you, probably... but why the hell are you asking me? Why not go to that halfer, Tamaki? I mean, he's the one you're always requesting to sit with, right?"

"Well, yeah, but that's only because my family is employed by his: in short, my mother is one of his maids," Ami sheepishly admitted, making Saelind choke on her spleen and nearly fall out of her chair. "I really don't have a choice but to do what he asks, and since he asked me to come visit the Host Club after it was established two years ago, that's what I've been doing. I'm not really interested in the affairs of the Host Club: most of the time I just drink tea and keep Suoh company. But since I was literally the first guest the Host Club ever had, I'm kind of... you know, the first choice for the races and stuff."

"Fine," Saelind groaned, letting her head thump against the table. "Better to get paired with you than someone Kyouya or Tamaki decides to pick."

"Can I tell you a secret?" Ami asked, leaning forward and planting her chin on her hand. "I think Mori-sempai has a crush on you."

Saelind blinked three times before she processed that statement... but then, her heart nearly froze and she flew upright in an instant.

"Don't joke like that," she stated seriously, staring at the girl with a wary teal eye. "It's not even funny, for real."

"I'm not joking!" Ami retorted, giving her a serious expression. "Ever since the day he hit you in the jaw, he hasn't been able to take his eyes off you. I mean, haven't you noticed it? He stares at you in the halls, in the Host Club, when you leave... and it's such an intense stare, too! Whatever he's feeling, it obviously isn't dislike"

While she was speaking, Saelind's face slowly drained of color and she stared at the table with a terrified teal eye.

"Q-q-q-quit lying," she stated seriously. "Seriously."

"Like I said, I'm not," Ami whined, furrowing her brows. "He really does: watch him next time you two are in the same room. It's impossible to miss."

"Ugh! No! Just, no! If that's the case, I'm gonna make this a fright-fest by telling _you_ a secret about _me,"_ the girl muttered, glancing at her with a baleful expression; then, almost fearfully, she opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out to reveal her fangs. The girl instantly jumped and gasped, eyes widening in surprise. "Before you ask, no... I'm not a vampire or anything. My DNA was messed up because my mother was an idiot: because of her actions, my body is... well, somewhat deformed compared to other people. On top of that, I have some... dangerously animalistic habits."

"W-what do you mean?" Ami whispered, eyes large with shock. "Dangerously animalistic...?"

"Well, to put it simply, when I was younger, I... hung out with wild wolves, sometimes," Saelind sheepishly admitted, hunching her shoulders when the girl's mouth fell open in horror. "Yeah, yeah, I know! But still, I understand them to a limited degree, and we can even... communicate a little... due to how my mind works."

"You hung out with wolves?! That's dangerous!" Ami squealed, gripping her shoulders and shaking her back and forth. "Oh, my God! Sael-chan, my father runs a clinic for wild animals, so I know more about them than anyone else! Wolves aren't the kind of creatures you should be messing around with! They're dangerous!"

"Not for me," Saelind stated calmly, averting her teal eye. "When I was still in the earliest developmental stages of being born, my mother and father hired a scientist to inject my embryo with a mixture of snake and wolf DNA. It messed me up severely, but because of that... my scent as a human being is extremely different, and wolves remember things by smell rather than sight. That's why it's not dangerous for me to get close to them: that's why they howl back when I cry. My mind works differently than yours."

"Still, it's not safe! Please, don't do it anymore!" Ami stammered, clasping her hand; Saelind's eyes sharpened and she tried to pull away, but Ami merely pouted and gave her a firm expression. "Look, just put up with my hands for a little bit, okay?! I'm not going to spread your secrets around, but seriously, you can't do that! Wolves are deadly animals, Sael-chan! They can kill a man three times your size within a minute! "

Saelind swallowed and jerked her hand back.

"Fine," the black-haired girl muttered; then she made a funny little sound, something between a sigh and a meow. "So, what now?"

"We get back to work?" Ami suggested, looking at him in confusion. "I don't know what else to do."

In all honesty, Saelind had been expecting her to run away screaming her head off, so Ami's reaction to her secret… well, it made her feel warm.

"You're not freaked out…?" she inquired bemusedly. "Most people would be terrified of me by this point."

"Why would I be?" Ami asked, glancing up at her in surprise. "I already knew you were different in a special sort of way."

"You're the only person I've ever told about the wolves," Saelind stated quietly, looking down at her Biology book with a thoughtful expression. "Thank you."

"No problem," Ami giggled, flapping a hand with a blush. "Anyway, since someone knows we're here now, want to study at my house? My mom won't care!"

"Well, fine, but only as long as she won't... stare, or anything," Saelind hesitantly agreed, gathering her things. "In fact, could we stop by my place first so I can change into something more comfortable?"

"Of course!" Ami laughed, giggling as she put her Biology book into her backpack. "My step-mom is mostly apathetic, anyway: she won't care if you're scarred or not, and maybe, if you want to, you could show me one of your cooking recipes!"

"Ugh, fine!" Saelind groaned, rolling her eyes. "Let's just get the hell out of here already!"

Thus, the two of them headed out of the library and made their way down the prestigious halls, chatting about the basics of becoming a culinary master as they walked. Saelind and Ami had almost made it outside when an unpleasantly familiar voice rang up and down the halls.

"Saelind!" a familiar voice cried. "Hey, wait!"

The girl instantly let out a groan, since it was none other than Renge.

"What?!" the black-haired girl barked, whirling around with an irritated expression. "Can't you just leave me alone for a day?!"

"B-but... Saelind, I have to ask: are you and... Miss Ami done with your biology project?" Renge hesitantly called, pressing her hands between her breasts with pleading honey brown eyes. When she turned her head to the side, the blue ribbon that had been tied into the back of her hair gleamed. "Um, I'm having a bit of trouble getting the decorations up by myself, and it really would be nice if you could help me work on them for the pool opening! I... I also have to leave early because of a family… thing, and since all of the Host Club members are visiting Haruhi today, we really need everyone to step up to the plate right now. Please?"

"Saelind, come on," Ami murmured worriedly, gripping the girl's arm. "L-let's go."

"Please, Saelind!" Renge called in a small voice, making the pale girl's shoulders straighten. "If Kyouya were here, you would be helping us all out... right?"

When the blonde took a step toward them, the girl shook her head and looked right up at her with a fierce expression on her face.

"No!" she shouted angrily, tightening her fist on her bag strap. "So, just leave me alone already!"

"Why?! What did I ever do to upset you so much?!" Renge cried, clenching her fists and holding them by her sides. "Please! Just tell me!"

"Fine! Since you can _handle_ the truth, I'll say it clearly!" Saelind spat, hair standing on end. "I hate almost _everyone_ at this stupid school! I don't even want to be here, but because I am, I've decided to go through each day one step at a time! However, just because I'm tolerating fickle people like you and the Host Club does NOT mean we're friends! There is NOTHING between me and those inconsiderate people: not friendship, not feeling, not anything! I hate their guts, and I honestly wish the Host Club would just leave me alone, so don't start talking to me as if you know me. I don't give a damn about your stupid party, and if it weren't for Ami, I sure as hell wouldn't be participating in something that I never wanted to be a part of in the first place! So back the fuck off and leave me alone!"

And with that, she grabbed Ami's arm and literally dragged her out the door as fast as she could go.

She didn't even realize that she'd pulled the taller girl along until they were off school grounds.

"Well… that was an... intense way to deal with Renge-chan," Ami noted, glancing at her with solemn eyes. "It was a little mean, but still... it probably worked."

"It's the truth, though: I hate almost everyone at school," Saelind muttered, straightening her Ouran blazer before the two of them started walking. "You're one of the only two people who doesn't constantly piss me off, and sometimes you go even further: you can make me smile, which is something I almost never do. So... in the end, that 'almost' was in there for your sake alone, since I don't hate you."

Ami instantly shrank into her fluffy outfit like a turtle, hiding her face until only her nose and her large eyes were left showing above the cloth. However, when they arrived at Saelind's apartment, the tiny girl totally forgot Ami was there and waltzed inside. When the brunette gasped, however, she turned around to see her staring at her barren home with large eyes.

The Asian girl slowly turned around in a circle, looking at it with a horrified expression on her face.

"You've got no furniture!" she stammered, looking at the Russian girl in shock. "Did someone rob you while we were at school?!"

Saelind blinked several times... but then, a light feeling filled her stomach and her face twitched, teal eye shining from the inside out.

Before she could stop herself, she let out a gale of laughter and headed into her room, leaving behind a confused teenage girl who had no idea what to think.

"No, I didn't get robbed," Saelind giggled, opening her curtain and lifting the window to air out the dust; she didn't notice when Haruhi pulled her own curtain aside and peered into her home with a confused demeanor. Nor did she notice when several male faces joined her in the staring. "I never had any furniture to start with, Ami: I may be rich, but my parents are kind of awful, so I refused to let either of them help me. Ya know?"

"That's horrible!" Ami cried, making the smaller girl laugh yet again; after removing her Ouran blazer, she undid her tie and started unbuttoning her school shirt. Then she slid it off and undid her braid before walking over to where her favorite green hoodie had been stashed. "Why on earth would all three of you live in an apartment with nothing in it?!"

"Oh... it's only me living here," Saelind explained, making the girl fall silent. "My mother is the Grand Duchess, remember?"

"What about your dad?" Ami asked, biting her lip. "Isn't he here?"

"No, he's overseas in America somewhere," the girl sighed, shaking her head. "I don't even know where."

Once she dropped the dress slacks, the skinny girl slid her jeans on and donned her sneakers before pulling her hood up, concealing her hair and face.

Soon after, she walked through the living room and headed into the kitchen with Ami following. The girl hunched her shoulders and watched as Saelind pulled several ingredients out of her cupboards: despite not having any furniture, every cabinet was stocked with the finest foods and cooking utensils. However, Ami didn't notice that all of the Host Club members were staring right at her with their mouths hanging open: they all looked one percent disbelieving and ninety-nine percent shocked.

"What are you doing?" Ami asked, hefting her bag. "I thought you were coming here to change?"

"I did, but I also figured it would save us a shopping trip if you really wanted me to show you how to make a foreign dish," the smaller girl explained, stepping on the tips of her toes as she pulled out several spices and stuffed them into a grocery bag. "After all, you'd need authentic ingredients for it to taste right."

"Oh! I see!" Ami exclaimed, eyes widening in delight. "Do you think my Mom might end up liking whatever we make tonight?"

"Well, it depends on her tastes," Saelind explained, glancing up at the girl after her fingers paused. "What kind of food_ does_ she like? Salty? Sweet? Spicy?"

"Well, um, she really likes stuff with a lot of flavor," Ami explained, frowning as she thought about it. "She prefers a more simplistic salty taste, I think: I once heard her tell my dad that she hates Western food since their chicken has weird flavors."

"Hmm..." Saelind murmured, cocking her head; then her teal eye lit up and she hastily pulled down some noodle-mix before grabbing a few more spices. Then she opened her fridge and grabbed a few other things. "I think I know what I'm gonna teach you how to make tonight! It's pretty easy, too, so I'm sure you'll get the hang of it if you try!"

"Really?" Ami gasped, eyes widening in delight. "What is it?"

"Now _that _is a secret!" Saelind laughed, expression softening greatly when she looked up at her. "Trust me: you're in for a surprise!"

And that much was true, since she was sure Ami would adore the selection she'd chosen.

"Well, there's just one more thing I should mention before we go," Ami hesitantly giggled, rubbing the back of her neck. "I... kind of live in Suoh Tamaki's house."

And just like that, Saelind dropped everything she was holding.

"You can't be serious," she whispered, sinking to her knees when the brunette grinned in a sheepish manner. "No way!"

Yup: way.

Saelind was going to Tamaki's house: her new worst nightmare.


	12. Chapter 11: The Tamaki Residence

**Chapter Eleven: The Tamaki Residence**

Saelind was pissed.

Beyond pissed.

So pissed that steam should have been shooting out of her ears.

And the reason?

She was currently sitting in the back of a limo that was heading towards Suoh Tamaki's house.

"Don't worry, Sael-chan, you're going to be just fine," Ami murmured, giving her a soft smile. "Trust me."

"If you hadn't noticed, I'm the farthest thing from fine right now," Saelind retorted lifelessly, staring out the window. "Tamaki is the bane of my existence, and right now I'm on my way to his house. How is that okay?"

Ami didn't respond, and she instantly looked uncomfortable: Saelind closed her shimmering teal eye as the buildings flashed passed the window: she had to be ready for the mental strain that would be waiting for her, but all she could focus on was the fact that she was about to enter the home of a boy she thoroughly disliked.

In truth, the limo ride was a silent one.

The radio was on low, a soft background noise solely to keep Saelind from going crazy because of the silence.

Luckily, Tamaki's mansion was close enough to the school to not seem like a long drive.

When the limo driver halted outside the gates, Ami lowered her eyes with a sigh.

"Home sweet home!" she murmured, leaning back with a wince. "Welcome to the Tamaki residence?"

"We're here?" Saelind deadpanned, pushing herself up in the seat a little so she could attempt to stare out the window. "Really?"

"Yup, this is Suoh's 'humble' abode," Ami sighed, shrugging in embarrassment. "I live with my mother in the servant's quarters."

When the chauffeur parked the limo and killed the ignition, Saelind rolled the window down and peeked at the house in front of her. Not far behind, however, was another limo: inside it was the Host Club, as well as a flushed-cheeked, sniffling Haruhi. They were all peering through the windshield and trying to see what was going on. However, that's when Saelind's mouth popped open in shock.

"You live here?" Saelind instantly squeaked, frantically groping for the door handle: with an amazed expression, she slid out of the car and stumbled back a few steps tilted her head back to stare. "Are you serious?! Suoh Tamaki lives in a mansion?!"

"Yes," Ami admitted, slowly getting out of the limo and primly folding her hands. "I'm sure you know this already, but his family is very, very wealthy."

"Yeah, I did, but still!" Saelind whispered, shaking her head in awe and pulling her hood off. "This is almost equal to the house I grew up in!"

Ami's eyes slowly widened behind her glasses when the clouds above them suddenly shifted, bathing the the frail girl in a golden glow. Saelind's glossy black hair immediately caught the light like a mirror, and her pale skin only seemed that much whiter due to the stark contrast. The brunette raised her eyebrows in surprise when she realized something.

Because of how dark it looked, nobody had ever realized just how luscious Saelind's hair was.

"This place is a traditional Japanese manor," Ami explained, crisply nodding her head. "It's just as majestic as the ones in Kyuushi."

"Wow," the smaller girl whispered, voice coming out like a prayer as she stared up at the house. "It's something all right."

It was true: the manor was beautiful... the building was made of white brick and practically loomed over them like a castle. Huge windows glittered in the sun, and a balcony had been wrapped around the entire second _and_ third floors. There was a garage off to one side, and a pool house on the other: even though it wasn't visible, Ami began to wonder how Saelind would react when she heard about the guest manor out back.

"Anyway," Ami finally sighed, looking at the black-haired girl. "Would you like to come inside?"

"Might as well," Saelind murmured, blinking before her enraptured look smoothed over into the usual uncaring expression. "That's why we came here."

So saying, Ami hurried up the steps and unlocked the giant double doors.

"Um... one more thing? Tamaki likes to decorate," Ami sheepishly admitted, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck before she stepped inside. "Sorry."

Honestly, that much was an understatement.

Saelind was legitimately stunned to her core once she saw the manor's interior: the entryway floor was made of checkerboard tiles that had been colored a pristine black and white, and the walls were painted a toast-colored yellow brown. After a few moments of gawking at the plush furniture, intricate carvings, beautiful velvet drapes, and stained-glass windows, Saelind's attention was drawn to the walls.

Multiple pictures hung on them, which made her curious: she looked at all of the older ones first, and she was relatively amazed... but then she paused, since one of them caught her eye. Saelind tilted her head before walking over to one photo in particular. After a moment of staring, she frowned in confusion: a young Tamaki and a young Ami were standing together with a brown-haired little boy who looked about two or three.

Behind them stood four adults... two men and two women.

And yet, for some reason, both of the women's faces had been cut out of the photo at some point.

After a moment, she glanced at another photo with the same people... and then another, and another.

Saelind felt increasingly disturbed when she realized that both women had been cut completely out of every single photo.

"Ami, who are those ladies?" Saelind asked, glancing at the brunette with furrowed brows. "Why have their faces been cut out of the pictures?"

When Ami saw what she was looking at, she winced and averted her eyes.

"They bring back some bad memories, I guess," Ami mumbled, giving a little shrug that made the black-haired girl quirk an eyebrow. "The blonde one was Suoh's mother, and the brown-haired one was my birth mother. My mother died a long time ago in a horrible accident, but nobody knows what happened to the young Mistress: everyone says she simply disappeared one day."

"Oh," Saelind murmured, teal eye suddenly becoming far away as an odd emotion flickered through her. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ami sighed, shaking her head before she glanced at the little boy in the photo. "My little brother, Ryuji, is still alive and happy: he's probably playing with a friend outside right now, so we don't have to worry about interruptions. He's always getting into trouble... even when we were little."

Saelind's heart skipped a beat and she almost remembered something.

She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt that there was a powerful connection between her family and Ami's family. Something about all of this suddenly felt very off... but the feeling of nostalgia slipped away and she was left with nothing but confusion. Ami looked away from the pictures and opened her mouth to say something, but she paused after seeing Saelind's expression. The girl looked like she had just seen a ghost, and the visible part of her face was bone white,

"Are you all right?" Ami asked, stepping forward and leaning down. "You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Saelind snapped, defensively pulling her hood up again and shrinking into it. "Let's just start studying!"

"All right... let's got to my room," Ami sighed, shrugging a bit before heading up one of the double grand-staircases. "Follow me."

However, when they made it to the top of the stairs, the door Ami stopped in front of opened wide before she could pull it back and an elderly woman stepped through it. However, she jerked to a halt and blinked at Saelind since the girl jumped behind Ami in surprise; then she bowed her head in a respectful manner. The old lady was wearing a traditional maid outfit, her face was as creased and wrinkled as a dried apple, and her hair was completely gray. A typical grandmotherly woman with an expression that clearly said 'STERN' in bold fashion.

"Welcome: I presume _you're_ the one that our young Master told us about?" the old lady asked, slanted brown eyes flashing with distaste when she took in Saelind's somewhat grubby appearance. "_Tsk..._ Kikiroshi-san, you really _do_ have bad taste in friends._"_

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, _Oba-sama,"_ Saelind sarcastically drawled, giving the old woman an airy salute. "S'cuse me for dressing comfortably."

"Well, I never!" the woman gasped, looking distinctly ruffled and surprised. "How dare you call me an old woman!"

Ami stepped between them when sparked started flying from their eyes: she looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Miss Morikawa," the brunette sighed, lifting her hands in a soothing manner, "this is Saelind Heseroph, daughter of the Grand Duchess of Russia. This outfit is her disguise so people don't recognize her. Surely you can understand that?"

The woman in front of them paled before bowing low with her hands folded together.

"Forgive me, _Milady!_ I have been terribly rude!" the woman stated fretfully, not raising her head. "Would you please forgive me for such an atrocity?"

"Um, okay?" the tiny girl snorted, not sounding as though she really cared. "It's really no big deal. I dress the way I want because it's within my rights. You are also entitled to your own opinion: you're a maid who was _offered_ employment, not a slave who's being forced, so lift your damn head already! I'm not one of those stingy blue-bloods who constantly looks down on other people!"

The woman blinked before slowly lifting her head and staring at her with an intense frown.

"Are you really the daughter of a duchess?" she inquired, sounding extremely skeptical. "You seem rather deprived of proper... etiquette."

"I'm not deprived of anything," Saelind yawned, shrinking within her hood and flapping her arms; the ends of her long sleeves flopped around with the movement, which made the woman blink and frown even more deeply. "I know everything there is to know about high class society. Does that mean I'm going to enforce it to the point where my relaxation time becomes stressful? No. I'm pretty sure that there are moments when you let yourself become lax in how you address certain people, as well. Everyone has moments like that, but right now, this is one of mine."

"As you wish," Old Lady Morikawa murmured, pursing her lips together as though she'd swallowed a prune. "I must be going now. Please excuse me."

With that, she hurried down the stairs, not even noticing the group of spying teens who'd hidden behind some suits of armor. The Host Club was watching everything with curious eyes, and they were trying their very hardest to make sure that they didn't get caught. However, when Saelind was finally welcomed into Ami's room, the girl's teal eye snapped open wide at the marvels around her and she gawked in awe: gorgeous carvings and the finest wood made up the raw basics. Not even counting the beautiful decorations.

"Wow..." Saelind whispered, looking around at the girl's bedroom. "This is, like... every girl's dream come true."

"You think so?" Ami giggled, blushing and looking down in embarrassment. "I honestly thought you wouldn't like it all that much since... well, you know."

"Excuse me, but let's pretend I don't," the smaller girl droned, giving her a half-lidded expression. "Why would you think I wouldn't like your room?"

"Well, because it's... really, really girly?" the brunette hesitantly suggested, making the Russian quirk an eyebrow. "Oh, come on! You know what I mean!"

"So, basically," Saelind sighed, folding her arms and cocking her hip, "you're saying that you thought I wouldn't like your room because I'm not girly. Right?"

"Pretty much," Ami bluntly replied, giving a short nod. "That about sums it up."

"Meh, whatever," the smaller girl yawned, pulling her hood down yet again before she flopped down on the plush carpet. "You got a point. My tastes don't match my personality."

"Which is why everyone thinks you're a Tsundere," the taller girl groaned, smacking a hand against her forehead. "You're annoyingly and bitterly adorable."

"I'm not sure whether I should take that as a compliment or an insult," Saelind snickered, rolling her teal eye as she flipped her book open and put the ingredients for the dinner she was planning on the floor. "Anyway, how many rooms does Tamaki's house have? This room is so big that I could fit my entire apartment inside of it!"

"There are a total of seventy two bedrooms," the girl promptly replied, making the girl's already-pale face turn bone white with shock. "Not counting the eighty nine bathrooms, sixteen dining halls, five kitchens, nine leisure rooms, and all of the secret passages that wind about this place. There are about three hundred rooms and corridors, total."

"Yep... that's about as big as my old house," Saelind muttered, scribbling some notes in her school journal. "It has three hundred and eighty nine."

"I wish I could have seen it," Ami dreamily sighed, pulling her own school things out of her bag. "Russian architecture is so beautiful and unique."

"Don't make me laugh," the Russian girl snorted, rolling her eye with an extremely sour expression. "Big houses are worthless, and I honestly hate them. It figures that Tamaki's home would represent everything that bothers me, especially since he and the Host Club members are nothing but a nuisance. Big houses like this may be pretty to look at, but they're really not my thing."

"Eh? What do you mean?" Ami asked, looking up from her own textbook in surprise. "I thought you liked the way this place looked, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but that's my point: big houses are for nothing but show," Saelind bitterly retorted, hand coming to a halt as she glared at her textbook. "What's the point of living in a house with three hundred rooms if you've got nobody to share those rooms with? Being in a house like this isn't fun for me: it does nothing but bring back unneeded memories."

"I see," Ami sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "Sorry... maybe I should have chosen another place."

"Don't worry about it," Saelind muttered grumpily, scratching at her ear with her pencil. "Let's just finish the notes for the project."

Neither girl realized that the entire Host Club was listening outside the door, or even that Tamaki himself looked extremely depressed by Saelind's statement. After about an hour of sitting in silence, however, there was a commotion from outside the door and several people unexpectedly burst in and fell in a tangled heap. Saelind glanced up with a start when she saw the Host Club members getting back to their feet. However, Ami instantly twitched and got to her feet as well, slowly folding her hands and bowing her head.

"Suoh-kun, how can I help you?" she asked, looking up at the blonde boy with startled eyes. "I wasn't expecting you!"

"Oh, there's nothing I need right now, Ami-chan," he stammered, turning bright red when Saelind glared daggers into his face. "I was just..."

"Hey, Ami?" Saelind muttered, giving the girl a dark expression, "I'm going to go put the ingredients in the kitchen. Mind telling me where it is?"

"It's... down the staircase and... through the left main hall," Ami mumbled, waving her arms. "Make three lefts, a right, and then a left."

With a curt nod, Saelind stomped past Tamaki, the Twins, Mori, Honey, Haruhi, and Kyouya without so much as giving them a second glance. However, once she was out of sight, her shoulders sagged and she covered her face, feeling out of sorts. For a while, she'd thought she might have been able to get away from them for at least one full day... but apparently, no matter what she did, they would always be looking for ways to bother her. After a few minutes of sulking, the girl hefted the grocery bag and was just about to leave when something caught her eye.

A dark room with something sparkly.

When she opened the door... she found what appeared to be a beautiful stain-glass mural inside a dimly lit lounge.

After a moment, Saelind decided to take a break in there since it seemed like it was her style.

Soon after that, she was sprawled out on one of the sitting room's chairs, leisurely fiddling with one of her sharp teeth and studying her textbook. However, when she heard the footsteps and looked up, Mori was folding his tall frame into one of the chairs: Saelind's eyebrows lifted in shock, and she stared with an enormous teal eye since there was a sketchbook in his lap, he had one pencil in his hand, and there was another behind his ear. His slanted grey eyes narrowed in dismay when she stared at him.

"Don't move," he murmured quietly, tilting his head from side to side as he looked at her body. "Okay?"

"Uhhh..." Saelind whispered, staring at him with startled eyes. "O-okay?"

After a moment of feeling uncomfortable, the girl shifted slightly and decided to ignore him before returning to what she was doing. When Mori's pencil started scrawling across the notebook, Saelind hesitantly peered up at him before she realized that her hood was still down. She instantly gasped and tilted her head, regarding him with a pained expression that made his face freeze for a moment.

That expression seemed to burn itself into his retinas: then her hair slid away from her face, which only made the sight more profound.

His eyes instantly flicked downwards since Saelind pulled her hood up and hastily went back to working.

Even though she was uncomfortable, there was something in the way Mori was sketching that made him interesting to watch.

"Hey, Beanpole," she grumbled, poking her tongue out with a gleaming teal eye. "Can I talk?"

"Nhn," he vaguely murmured, glancing at her then back at the paper. "I already have what I need."

Of course. Good thing Saelind was used to people being cryptic with her.

"I still haven't decided to forgive you for hitting me, you know," Saelind stated sourly, making the skritching noise pause; Mori slowly lifted his head and regarded her with an equally blank expression. "My jaw still hurts because of what you did, and the bruise is still just as bad as the day I got it. You seriously hurt me."

For a long moment, nothing happened... but then, Mori set the pencil down and stood up, making the girl twitch and draw back.

Saelind blinked when she realized he'd crossed the carpet in order to stand in front of her... and with apprehension in her gut, she slowly looked up until she could see his face. His eyes were narrowed and he looked somewhat intimidating, which made her clamp up in fright. When he slowly leaned down and lifted his hand, Saelind's face twisted up and she abruptly flinched away with both of her eyes squeezed shut.

With a silently impulsive person like him, it was too hard to understand what he was thinking.

She honestly didn't know what to expect, aside from what had already happened... so she braced herself to get decked in the face a second time for pushing his buttons. In truth, because of how hard he'd hit her in the jaw, the only Host Club member who genuinely frightened her was Mori. She alone knew just how much muscle he had on his body: she'd felt it when he'd hit her. If he wanted to do something else, there was no way her measly Akido lessons would help her. Narrowing his eyes even further, Mori leaned closer and stared at the girl with a frown: frankly, all he was trying to do was apologize, but this wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting at all.

Her face had gone so pale that her skin was almost see-through.

Frowning, he gently set his hand on her shoulder and ignored the snarl of protest she let out: the girl's body was shaking violently.

Saelind twitched when Mori let out a choking sound and seemed to struggle with something: however, when his frustration became apparent, he stood up tall and awkwardly ruffled his hair. The tiny girl shivered when the boy's huge shadow completely obscured her: he was too enormous for his own good. It made her feel even more helpless than usual, and she hated it. However, when Mori blinked and slowly leaned down again with both arms outstretched, Saelind's small shoulders locked up and her face froze.

_Oh, God..._ the girl whimpered inside her head, squeezing her teal eyes shut in terror. _He's gonna kill me!_

The Russian girl flinched when the Asian boy grabbed her green-clad wrists, expecting him to do something violent.

However, when she was pulled clean off her feet and straight into a bear hug, time slowed down.

For a long moment, Saelind's mind went out and her fear blanketed her mind: she couldn't even let out a hiss because the shock had paralyzed her.

_Is he going to strangle me?!_ she wondered blankly, not able to form a comprehensive thought. _I can't feel what he's doing... someone... please! Get him off!  
_

Just as Mori opened his mouth, however, Honey's silhouette appeared in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," the giant rumbled quietly, speaking in a voice that vibrated her entire body. "I'm sorry that I lost my temper that day. I was wrong."

Saelind's visible eye widened in startled surprise: he was _apologizing?_

If that was the case, then had he really needed to go as far as touching her?!

"L-l-let me go!" Saelind squeaked, finally flailing around and struggling to get free. "If that's all you wanted to say, you should have done it without touching me! Get off!"

When he jumped and hastily set her back down, Saelind shakily dusted herself off and tried to keep her knees from buckling.

"Sorry," he wheezed, flailing his arms with a helpless expression. "Sorry."

"Whatever: just forget about it!" Saelind snapped, giving him a wide berth as she bolted out of the sitting room. "I... I'm heading for the kitchens!"

"Hn..." he acknowledged, staring at the ground once the girl was gone. "Fine."

After a moment, Mori stoically returned to the couch and started sketching again, but when Honey popped up beside him with wide brown eyes, the wild one wasn't really surprised.

"What was all that about, Takeshi?" Honey asked innocently. "I've never seen Saelind like that before! She looked ready to cry!"

"I was apologizing," the giant quietly explained, drawing on the paper with deft strokes. "It was for doing something I shouldn't have."

"What did you do?" Honey quipped, sliding onto the couch beside him and swinging his legs. "Can you tell me what you did?"

"I hit Saelind," Takeshi droned, not even letting himself think about it. "I misunderstood and hit her. On her first day."

Honey's eyes flooded with realization and he looked a little subdued, subconsciously hiding his long-healed hand.

"What'cha drawing, Takeshi?" Honey asked, leaning over his arm and peering at it. "It's been a long time since you've drawn!"

"Something broken, but very beautiful," Mori stated simply. "Nothing more."

"Oh," the blonde mumbled, blinking a few times before his stomach growled. "Well, I think I'm gonna go ask Tama-chan for some cake!"

"Don't forget to be polite," Mori stated calmly, not lifting his eyes from the paper. "Remember that."

When Honey giggled and left with his stuffed rabbit, the blonde didn't even realize that the sketch he'd asked about was already taking shape.

It was an image of a young girl with burn scars holding an eye-patch.

A girl who was looking at the world as though she were the saddest human being ever to have walked across the face of the planet.


	13. Chapter 12: Subterfuge

**Chapter Twelve: Subterfuge**

"Out of all the elements," Ami stated, brushing a finger over a brightly colored copy of the periodic table that had been spread on the floor, "Carbon and Hydrogen are the most likely to create chemical compounds. They want the stability that the noble gases have… oh, and those are helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, by the way."

"I knew that," Saelind snorted, making a mental note to study those elements later; she wanted to remember them just in case they came up on another science test. "Hydrogen and carbon are the whores of the periodic table."

_"W-whores?"_ Tamaki squeaked, eyes widening in horror; everyone's heads instantly snapped up to stare at her. "Oh, Saelind-san! That's not..."

When the girl lazily glanced up, everyone was staring at her in a way that really pissed her off.

After a moment, the girl calmly pointed her mechanical pencil at Ami and fervently ignored the stunned and horrified attitudes everyone else was giving her.

"She _just said_ that they'd bond with anything, right?" Saelind demanded, cocking an amazed eyebrow when she hesitantly nodded. "Okay, then! Therefore, in my state of mind, hydrogen and carbon are the periodic table's whores. If you guys don't like it, sue me: I remember these things a little better when I can picture them as cheesy adults with bad taste and an ungodly love for Spandex."

"Well, that's one way of looking at it," Haruhi drawled, muffling a giggle with her hand. "I guess they're both whores."

"Takeshi?" Honey asked, plopping down on the carpet beside the reading giant and squeezing his rabbit. "What are 'whores?'"

"I'll tell you when you're older," Mori stated quietly, flipping the page of his book. "It's a bad thing."

"For once, I actually had a bit of a challenge," Saelind absently grumbled, closing her biology book and pulling her hood down. After almost an hour, she was done with forcing her brain to slowly melt. "Thanks, Ami: I had fun."

"I can tell," she happily replied, getting up as well. "Do you want to go make dinner, now?"

"Okay!" Saelind muttered, averting her eye with a scowl. "I think that's a good idea."

In truth, after four hours of struggling to ignore the Host Club's idiocy, Saelind was relieved to have an excuse to get out of the same room as them.

So, once Ami showed her where the kitchen was, she taught the girl how to make a simplistic culinary dish.

It went rather smoothly, too, since the clumsy brunette seemed take a large amount of care when it came to important things.

After that was done and they'd finished doing their biology reports, Saelind reluctantly told the other Host Club members about her spat with Renge, but she ignored the scoldings Tamaki gave her. She was rather glad when everything was finally done, because... well, she was tired, and she didn't want to be anywhere near Mori or Kyouya. So, when she decided to leave, she told Ami that she was heading home and the brunette escorted her to the front doors.

With a curt wave, the black-haired girl left the manor and began walking down the long driveway towards the gates.

Then Ami returned to the room and folded her hands, cheery manner vanishing and being replaced by a somewhat disheveled one.

The other club members seemed to be a bit downtrodden by the fact that Saelind had left.

"That wasn't very fun," Kaoru muttered, flopping down on Tamaki's bed and popping a potato chip into his mouth. "She left before anything good happened."

"Not to mention that she clamped up like a clam the moment we arrived," Hikaru added, flopping down as well with a sigh. "She really hates us."

"But the real question is _why_ she does!" Tamaki gushed, pressing a hand against his mouth with furrowed brows. "It's obvious that she seriously dislikes beautiful things, but she shouldn't hate them to _this_ degree! After all, beauty is meant to be shared with the world, but what is one supposed to do if someone doesn't _like_ beautiful things?"

"Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, Senpai," Haruhi stated calmly, flipping through her math textbook and scribbling out some answers. "There are some people who don't share the same views as we dp: that's how the world is, you know?"

"She seemed to like how my room was Decorated," Ami stated calmly, brown eyes hidden behind the glare on her glasses. "On top of that, I'm somehow managing to fulfill your request. I'm getting closer to her like you wanted me to."

"Good work, Ami!" Tamaki laughed, spinning in delight without even realizing that everyone had frozen. "We might just be able to make her happy with this!"

Blinking rapidly, Haruhi slowly lifted her head and stared at Tamaki, not believing what she'd just heard.

"What did you say?" she asked, giving him a stunned expression. "Senpai, what are you two talking about?"

"Yeah, Boss," the twins stated simultaneously, sitting up at the same time and staring at the blonde with unblinking eyes. "What _are_ you talking about?"

"Oh, it's simple, really," Tamaki laughed, glancing at them with bright sapphire eyes. "When Ami told me about her first encounter with Saelind, I decided to meet her myself since I had trouble believing she'd gotten through to Ami so easily. I figured she was the type of person who probably didn't know how to make friends, and since all of us are happiest when we're together, I got an idea. So, with Ami's help, I decided to give Saelind a friend so we could all get close to her! See? Once she realizes that it's fun here, she'll start to like us, and she'll be a perfect Tsundere!"

When everyone looked at Ami, she had no expression on her face whatsoever: she looked unfeeling, almost like a robot.

"Tama-chan, isn't that like lying to Sael-chan?" Honey asked, glancing at Ami with a worried expression. "Is Ami-chan a real friend or not? I don't understand."

"I'll be her friend as long as Suoh asks me to," Ami stated, giving them a pleasant smile. "I'm only a maid, after all: what he asks, I cannot disobey."

And before anybody could ask anything else, Ami bowed low and left the room at a crisp pace, yellow school uniform fluttering behind her.

"See?" Tamaki cried, smiling at them in an oblivious manner. "If Ami can just get Saelind to open up, everything will fall into place!"

Haruhi swallowed and looked at the floor since everyone merely shrugged and started focusing on other things.

She didn't like this: Saelind obviously didn't know that Tamaki had asked Ami to get close to her, because if she had known, she wouldn't have set foot anywhere near the brunette. After a long moment, the beautiful girl-in-disguise finally got up when the others began goofing off and used that distraction to go talk to Ami. Once she was out in the hall, she headed towards the other brunette's room with an unamused expression on her face.

Taking a breath, she knocked on the door and waited for Ami to invite her in.

"Come in," the girl called in a sing-song tone. "I just finished changing, so it's safe."

"It's only me," Haruhi stated simply, opening the door and stepping inside; she blinked when she realized that the cute girl she'd seen earlier had completely disappeared due to her change in apparel. She was now wearing some worn clothes and was relaxing on her bed with an irritated expression on her face: her glasses had been removed, and the somewhat bookish look she'd put off had vanished. "Wow... you look like a totally different person."

"So what?" Ami snorted, glancing at her with a quirked eyebrow. "I'm only living here until I graduate from school at eighteen. I can't stand living here. I never wanted to be a maid, but since my step-mother thought it would be 'good' for me, I had no choice. Now, what do you want?"

Haruhi blinked rapidly and scratched her small nose, blinking her large eyes before she sorted herself out.

"I have a question, actually," the brunette stated simply. "What do you think of Saelind?"

"Honestly?" Ami stated with a smile, flipping through her I-pod without noticing how the shorter brunette twitched. "Well, she gives extremely good advice, and I can definitely use some lessons in cooking, but... truth be told, I don't like her at all."

"Why?" Haruhi demanded, staring at her with a stunned expression. "More importantly, why the heck are you hanging out with her these days?"

"Because I'll get in trouble with my parents if I disobey Tamaki," Ami retorted, giving her a glare. "I'm his personal maid, Fujioka-san: I wouldn't be doing this if I had a choice in the matter. Saelind's extremely bitter, her attitude is appalling, and her fashion sense is pretty much non-existent. Not to mention the scars on her face are kind of disgusting: every time she smiles at me, I feel sick to my stomach."

"That's a horrible thing to say!" Haruhi choked, covering her mouth in outrage. "She's not that bad! How could you say something so cruel?!"

"Look... I really do feel sympathetic with her, and I _will_ admit that it shocked the hell out of me the first time she smiled," Ami stated simply, looking back at her I-pod with a dismayed expression, "and yes, I do admire her for being strong enough to move forward... but in the end, I simply don't like her. I mean, she has like one emotion total: pissed."

"If you hate her so much," Haruhi growled, clenching her fists with an angry expression, "why the heck are you making her think that you care about her?"

"Because Suoh told me to: third time I've said it," Ami spat, giving the shorter girl a glare. "Since I work for him, I don't have the right to say no! My mother would kick me out, and then I'd be screwed, so until he tells me to quit, I have to pretend like I'm a goody-goody for that ugly burn victim. Tamaki told me everything I needed to know in order to do my job: that's how I was able to breach her walls and get close to her. Because of how antisocial she is, I didn't even know she _was_ a girl until Tamaki told me the truth. We 'accidentally' crashed into each other because Suoh needed an excuse to get her to talk to me. Nothing more."

Haruhi Fujioka merely stood there, shaking with horror.

She wanted to leave the room so she could yell at Tamaki, to make him quit using Ami for his plans to make Saelind like them... but there was also a much heavier part of her heart that was telling her not to do anything. That painful side was screaming that she couldn't: she couldn't make him stop, because if she did, she would be the one responsible for hurting Saelind. For the first time ever, Haruhi simply didn't know what to do.

Saelind thought she had nobody: Ami had begun to worm her way through the barriers she'd put up to hide her heart. And in the end, it wouldn't be a good thing at all: it was a one-way path that would inevitably destroy a girl who'd already been broken once before. Haruhi couldn't help but remember the smiles she'd seen on Saelind's face earlier that day, the smiles that Ami had somehow managed to pull out of nowhere.

"You're a horrible person," Haruhi whispered, shaking her head and angrily storming out of the room. "I can't stand two-faced girls like you!"

Ami didn't hear her since she'd already put her headphones in.

When Haruhi returned to Tamaki's enormous room, the blonde startled her by spinning over and thrusting a paper out.

"HARUHI!" he shouted in the usual excited tone, making the girl lean away from him with a rapid set of blinks. "It's time we all decide who our partners for the swim competitions are going to be! Come and join us! All you have to do is sign your name next to one of the girls who've previously visited the Host Club!"

"Well, _this_ is an absolutely perfect development," Haruhi drawled sarcastically, letting out a sigh as she took the offered paper; after a moment of gazing at the names that had been written on it, she blinked since she saw one that had probably been a mistake: Seika Ayanokoji. "Um... Tamaki-Senpai? Princess Ayanokoji's name is on this list."

Honey nearly dropped his rabbit, Kyouya's eyes flicked up in curiosity, and the twins jumped up so quickly that they ended up falling on each other.

Mori didn't seem to care one way or the other and merely continued reading, calmly turning the page of his book.

"Of course it is," Tamaki stated softly, turning and walking over to the window with his hands folded behind his back. "Even though she was definitely in the wrong with what she did to you, I've been thinking it over: banning her from the Host Club was a little too harsh. So, if you've forgiven her for bullying you, I've decided to let her start requesting people again."

Haruhi blinked in surprise, but then her eyes softened and she smiled, since the blonde in front of her really only wanted people to be happy. It was somewhat relieving, but at the same time... extremely frustrating. He made plans without thinking them through, and sometimes he made mistakes, but in the end, he was usually thinking about what was best for everyone.

"Sure, Senpai," Haruhi murmured, shaking her head with a sigh; then, swallowing her anxiety, she even did the unthinkable and wrote her name next to Ayanokoji's, sealing herself down as the bad-tempered redhead's partner for the competitions. Then she noticed the other name that had already been signed and glanced at Kyouya, who didn't seem to be paying attention either way. "In fact, I've chosen to be her partner. Maybe I can use this as an opportunity to make things right."

"Wonderful!" Tamaki cried, whirling around and running over to her with his arms outstretched. "Oh, Daddy loves you!"

Haruhi let out a muffled squeal when she was smothered against his chest, flailing her arms for a few seconds.

"Senpai, stop!" she snapped, gasping for air once she was free. "Like I said, I've already got a dad! I don't need another one!"

"_But if you try sometime, you just mind find…_" Kaoru started to sing. "_you get what you—_"

"Nope!" Haruhi instantly interrupted, clamping her hands down over her ears. "If you start singing that song, I'm going home."

"Fine," Kaoru sighed, breaking off mid-note. "Still, we wanted to ask you something, Haruhi."

"Yeah. Where did you go earlier?" Hikaru added, giving his brother a sideways glance. "We didn't want to bother you since you seemed a little... moody."

"I, uh, had to use the bathroom," the brunette explained, rubbing her neck with a nervous grin. "Anyway, I'll try to get along with Princess Ayanokoji-san."

"Good for you, my little nerd," Tamaki cheered ecstatically. "All that's left is to finish the decorations by Tuesday, so I guess that's probably what we'll be doing,"

Once everyone had returned to what they were doing, however, Haruhi's smile faded and she stared at the only other name that had been signed.

Saelind Heseroph and Ami Kikiroshi had already been paired together.

Once again, she couldn't help but remember the smiles she'd seen that day, because in the end... Saelind was getting close to someone who would probably hurt her in the end. And she didn't like that, at all. So, after steeling herself, the brunette slowly took a deep breath and closed her eyes, making the decision to get as close to Saelind as possible. That way, at least she would know she had one other shoulder to cry on if things went south with Ami.

_I still can't believe Tamaki's forcing someone to be Saelind's friend,_ Haruhi silently murmured, looking out the window and up at the rising moon. _It's subterfuge._


	14. Chapter 13: Calm Before a Storm

**Chapter Thirteen: Calm Before a Storm**

When Saelind wearily arrived back at her apartment, there was a note taped onto her door from Ranka.

_We didn't have dinner tonight, so I'll ask Haruhi later. I hope you had fun! Haruhi sounded enthusiastic about spending time with you! -Ranka_

Furrowing her brow, the girl crumpled it up and tossed it over her shoulder.

Then she unlocked the entrance to her home, hurrying inside before shakily taking her hood off. Once she'd removed her sweatshirt, the girl slowly hung it up before turning around and examining her temporary residence. There wasn't a single photograph or painting on the walls, and the room itself was empty and neat like a hotel room. The only sign of residence was the black duffel bag that had been thrown haphazardly into the corner after she'd moved in, the clothes in her closet, and the teddy bear lying on top of her bag.

The bear had been a gift from her brother, Saelvan... and she hadn't touched it once since she'd arrived.

In fact, she hadn't even so much as checked her cell phone: probably the main reason why her mother had chosen to send a formal letter of apology. After a moment, a feeling of intense loneliness swept over her and she quietly walked into her room, small, shoe-clad feet padding silently against the seemingly ancient hardwood floors. After picking up the teddy bear, she kicked off her red and white tennis shoes and collapsed onto her dusty floor, hugging the stuffed animal close to her chest.

The week had dragged through almost agonizingly for Saelind, seeing as she'd originally had no intentions of socializing with anyone.

Then the Host Club had come along and ruined everything: her hopes of surviving high school in the shadows had been destroyed thanks to them.

"They piss me off," she muttered weakly, hugging her bear with an angry teal eye. "Inconsiderately telling people what to do... blackmailing... I hate them."

It was true: she hated them.

However, she did feel attached to one person, although how it had happened was a mystery to her.

Ami Kikiroshi was probably the only person at Ouran Academy who didn't act spoiled aside from Haruhi Fujioka, whom Saelind only put up with because she was in the same situation as herself: owing a debt and being blackmailed into posing as a guy. In spite of that, though... there was a part of Saelind that actually hated Haruhi the most, because the girl was good-looking enough to fit in with the Host Club. Then again, she was constantly reminded that since the club itself was meant for showing off beautiful people.

It wasn't Haruhi's fault that Tamaki was such a dope.

All in all, the Host Club was a headache.

_Just because they're rich and have everything they've ever wanted, they get to boss people around,_ Saelind silently muttered, rolling on her back and staring at the ceiling with a tired expression. _Plus, if what Ami said is true... that giant guy, Takeshi Morinozuka, has been acting like a perverted creeper—and since he was acting freaky earlier, I don't doubt it._

Averting her teal eye from the bland ceiling and turning her head, the girl winced when her long hair slid across her burned flesh.

Her face was exposed now... but since nobody could see, she merely stared at the wall with solemn eyes.

After the day she'd had, Saelind didn't even have any energy left to feel angry... and in truth, her anger and bitterness was nothing more than a shield. When she'd been left alone in the hospital... when she'd been locked inside her room for months... she'd cried so much that it had damaged her already-blind eye to the point where her tear-ducts no longer formed saline. During those long days, she had been crying for someone... anyone... one person who would hold her and tell her everything would be all right... but her constant tears had been meaningless.

It didn't matter how much she'd cried.

It didn't matter how much she'd called for her mother, her father, her brother.

Her fear, her anguish, her pain... it was worthless: her family hadn't cared, and nobody who'd called themselves her friends had given her a second glance until they'd needed something. When she'd realized it, however, she'd become angry inside... so horribly angry that it made her see red... but, in turn, the anger had almost completely blotted out the anguish and suffering she'd been enduring.

It had halted the tears.

And for someone who was as emotionally frail as Saelind... being angry was much better than being broken: that's why she'd used her own anger as a shield... because it had protected her from her own pain. In fact, whenever she got the urge to cry, she refused to let herself do it normally because she needed to stay angry: so, she howled.

She howled out the pain.

And because of her messed up genetics, sometimes... wild wolves howled back.

After a moment, Saelind slowly lifted her small, puckered hand and held it in front of her eye.

She looked at the horribly wrinkled flesh and shivered a little, trying not to think too much.

She was ugly, and nothing would ever change that.

When the girl finally set her hand back down, she slowly sat up and looked at her duffel bag, where her phone and charger had been left unattended to since she'd arrived. She knew she was being stupid... nobody in her family would ever leave her messages aside from Saelvan, but he was also kind of homesick. As much as she hated her mother, she kind of missed being around the bad-tempered duchess.

So... almost hesitantly, she slid over to the bag and unzipped it before pulling the phone out.

She held it in her right hand, staring at the angry birds case with a disheveled expression.

Then, closing both of her eyes, the girl threw the phone across the room and turned her face away from it.

She knew why she was doubting herself.

Seeing Ranka and Haruhi acting so close to each other was yet another reminder of things she would never have.

Feeling bitter and depressed, the tiny girl flopped back down on the tatami mats. Rolling over with her teddy bear, she closed her eyes, planning on sleeping away the thoughts troubling her mind. If things went well, she figured that she could slowly wriggle her way out of the Host Club and transfer schools. Saelind's mind slowly faded out as sleep washed over her: tomorrow, she was hoping Ami would request to sit with her, since the girl was the only person at Ouran that she didn't completely hate.

Right around the moment that she fell asleep, Haruhi arrived home.

"Dad? I'm home!" Haruhi called, letting out a sigh as she loosened the tie around her neck. "I'll get dinner started in a few minutes."

"Welcome back, Haru-chan!" Ranka called, welcoming her with a smile. "So, how did it go?!"

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow," the girl yawned, heading off into the kitchen and pulling her apron on. "It's been a long day, so let me make dinner."

"It's only eight o'clock!" the tranny called, frowning at her when she pulled out everything she needed. "Did something happen?"

"Kind of, but it's not important," Haruhi sighed, turning the stove on and chopping up some fresh vegetables in a flurry of action. "Like I said, I'll tell you tomorrow. I need some time to think about it myself."

"If you say so, dear," Ranka murmured, giving a shrug; not long after, the hiss of cooking food filled the air, and an hour later, everything was ready, Haruhi tiredly set some plates out before glancing at an empty spot at their table. Ranka took her pause as his cue to sit down. "Thank you for the food! Oh, that reminds me... why don't you go invite Saelind-chan for dinner, too?"

"I'd be happy to go get her," Haruhi stated, turning around and heading for the front door. "I was going to do it just now, anyway."

Once she was outside, Haruhi headed down the stairs and walked over to Saelind's apartment, humming a little tune under her breath. The Japanese girl wanted to make Saelind feel genuinely welcome at Ouran Academy since nobody else seemed smart enough to breach her walls, and in spite of her bad attitude, she knew that things like this were good opportunities.

However, the brunette also knew that if Ranka had been the one to go get her—considering how oblivious her father tended to be with other people—Saelind would have probably flat-out refused the offer. When she arrived at the entrance to the black-haired girl's room, Haruhi listened for any noise on the other side of the door—but upon hearing none, she rapped gently on the wood.

"Saelind? Are you in there?" she quietly called, slowly twisting the metal knob. "_Moshi Mooooshi?_"

The old door hinges creaked when Haruhi applied some gentle pressure to push it open.

However, when her beautifully large eyes adjusted, the brunette blinked since the room had been washed in the silver light of the moon, which was shining through the curtains of her bathroom window. However, Haruhi's already gentle brown eyes practically melted into a puddle with empathetic warmth when she saw Saelind's sleeping form. The smaller girl's moon-washed skin had been bleached a pure white, and her shimmering black hair was sprawled haphazardly around her head and upper torso like a pillow of glossy satin.

She looked young, innocent, and peaceful for the first time since she'd come to Japan.

In truth, Haruhi had never seen a shred of such bliss on the small girl's face until that particular moment.

Even her smiles with Ami had seemed somewhat forced.

In an effort to preserve this image of innocence, the brunette quietly tiptoed towards the door, planning to leave Saelind to her dreams.

She didn't realize that those dreams were nightmares until the girl's voice split the air.

"No... wait…" Saelind mumbled incoherently, small hand twitching towards Haruhi. "Please... come back..."

At first, the girl froze, thinking she'd been caught... but when she finally gathered enough courage to turn around and look at her face, she saw that Saelind was still fast asleep. Haruhi blinked several times since she could hear the girl mumbling something else, but she couldn't quite understand what Saelind was saying. So, with curiosity getting the best of her, the brunette returned to her side and leaned in close to her face in the hopes of fully hearing what she was saying.

"Alex… cold…" Saelind whispered faintly, mouth trembling a little before her face relaxed. "Wet... but... and all the... no... I can't! Windows..."

She was having a dream, but from the sound of it, Haruhi doubted it was a good one. That's when Saelind twitched in her sleep and a slight moan escaped her lips. Perspiration appeared on her pale skin when she twitched a second time... but then, she slowly started to toss and turn. Haruhi's eyes widened and she covered her mouth to muffle a yelp when the smaller girl's hands abruptly flew forward and locked around her ankles. Her eyes widened when Saelind clung to her, fingers squeezing so tightly that it hurt.

Her grip was practically crushing the bones in her legs.

_Ow, ow, ow!_ Haruhi silently chanted, staring down at Saelind with frightened eyes. _What the heck is she doing?! Is she really asleep?!_

"Alex! P-Please! No, no, no! I won't let go this time, I promise!" Saelind whimpered, rapidly turning her head from side to side and tightening her finger's on Haruhi's ankles. Her anguished cries startled the brunette, and she jumped in fright when the girl tried to drag her feet out from underneath her body. When she tried to pull away, Saelind shrieked as though she were being murdered and thrashed violently. "NO! NO!"

Not knowing what to do, Haruhi tried to keep her balance while attempting to wake the girl from her nightmare.

Taking a wild look around the room as her mind scrambled for a solution that didn't involve screaming for her father, Haruhi did the unthinkable.

"Well, this is just perfect," she groaned, closing her eyes and letting the girl jerk her legs out. Saelind's muscles started shaking violently the moment she was down: however, Haruhi's eyes widened and she locked up like a stiff wooden board when the girl began dragging her across the tatami mats by the legs, grip progressively moving higher. "Uhhhh... she's probably gonna kill me!"

However, even though Haruhi prepared herself to be strangled or at the very least, _murdered..._ what came instead was a soft embrace.

She jumped when Saelind clamped down on her and pulled her large frame close enough to snuggle with, still shivering violently.

"Let's... go... together..." Saelind whimpered, making Haruhi slowly turn her head: she froze when she saw the expression on the smaller girl's face. Tears were spilling out from beneath her closed eyelids, and her entire face was contorted with pain. "We made it..."

It was in that moment that Haruhi realized with a jolt that she was witnessing the most emotion she'd ever seen on Saelind's face.

While she was awake, the girl acted angry, indifferent, and sarcastic; this was completely the opposite.

After a moment, the brunette tried to dislodge herself, but Saelind's arms tightened around her even further. When she tried again, the smaller girl's body was suddenly wracked by a small, catlike mew and tears once again began forming at the corners of her eyes; Haruhi went rigid when they began cascading down her cheeks, and suddenly, she felt an odd panic float through her.

She had absolutely no idea what to do until a mental flash of her own mother came to mind.

"Shh…" Haruhi whispered softly, trying to soothe the girl without waking her up. "Saelind, it's okay... everything is going to be all right."

The flow of crystalline droplets didn't stop.

"No…" Saelind whispered back. "Together..."

However, her violent thrashing began to cease, and she slowly curled into Haruhi's side.

"Shh… it's okay. It's okay…" Haruhi whispered, shakily lifting a hand and brushing the girl's hair away from her face; her eyes instantly widened. "Whoa..."

Saelind's hair didn't even feel like hair: some hair was soft if it was treated properly... but this girl's hair felt more like liquid satin than anything else. After a moment, she shook her head and touched her own hair before wincing internally, wondering if she should ask what conditioning products she'd used on her ebony tresses. Even though Saelind couldn't hear her, she seemed to be responding to her touch: she even leaned into the hand Haruhi was touching her with.

Which was weird, because normally, Saelind absolutely hated being touched by people.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Haruhi continued to stroke the girl's head since the simple motion seemed to have a weird calming effect on her night terrors: her heavy breathing slowly subsided and the tears finally stopped. When the girl seemed to be sleeping calmly, Haruhi nearly groaned in relief and slowly tried to slide free of the girl's grasp—but as soon as the touch was lost, she let out a small noise of protest.

Sighing, Haruhi placed her hand back where it was.

But this time, Saelind's own hand came up and she placed it atop hers in order to keep her from taking it.

"What the heck am I doing here?" Haruhi deadpanned, closing her eyes in dismay. "I have to get back to Dad."

However, feeling almost as though she were abandoning Saelind, the brunette jerked her hand away from the pale girl's scarred face and stood up.

With one last glance at the sleeping girl, she headed out the door and carefully closed it, guilt riding her conscience.

When she returned to her own apartment alone, Ranka seemed to have understood that something had happened by the look on her face. When they sat down and started eating, the heavy atmosphere hung above the dining table like a dark storm cloud ready to burst and rain down: only the wooden clicks of the chopsticks filled the silence of the room.

"So…" Ranka began after he'd swallowed the majority of his food. "How's school, Haruhi?"

"Alwight," Haruhi deadpanned, calmly speaking around a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Ranka scolded, holding his chopsticks up and waving them with a stern demeanor. "Use your manners!"

The girl glanced off to the side with sarcastic eyes and swallowed her food before looking at him normally.

"Sorry, Dad," Haruhi apologized, giving him a firm stare. "I won't do it again."

"Hey, Haru-chan, how's Saelind-chan doing?" Ranka asked after a moment, not looking up from his plate. Haruhi tensed at the question and sighed in dismay, since her father had frequently been asking about the girl's well-being. "Didn't she want to eat with us?"

"She was sleeping when I went over there," Haruhi stated, taking a drink of her water. "She looked really tired. I didn't want to wake her up."

"Ah, I see..." Ranka sighed, shaking his head. "Well, what about at school? Do you think she's fitting in?"

"Well, considering she's now a member of the Host Club... she's actually doing okay," Haruhi murmured after swallowing her food. "Although, she's still extremely antisocial: I haven't seen Saelind really talk to anyone in school aside from the teachers, and even then she only gives them a one or two-worded response. Aside from when she's answering questions and talking with the girls who request to sit with her, she really doesn't talk at all."

"I see… well," Ranka uneasily mumbled, scratching at his neck, "let's just do our best to help her open up. Deep down, I think she's a very sweet girl who deserves much better than what she was given."

"I already plan on it," Haruhi sighed, shrugging nonchalantly before she paused. "Tomorrow, the Host Club is going to be having a pool party."

"Oh?! Is that so?!" Ranka gushed, eyes lighting up with this news. "Wow, that's great, Haru-chan! I hope you have a good time!"

"I'm not very good at swimming, but I'm planning on trying my best, at the very least," she sighed, giving a shrug as she finished her plate and grabbed her father's empty one. "I'm really, really tired, Dad... once I'm done doing the dishes, I think I'm gonna head to bed."

"Don't worry about it," Ranka sighed, getting up and planting a kiss on her cheek. "I'll take care of it, so you just go get some rest."

For a long moment, Haruhi merely stared at her father with a frown... but then her expression softened and she nodded.

After all, even with his previous mishaps concerning doing the dishes, she was too tired to care if her ended up melting the glass plates again.

Somehow, though, she had a bad feeling about the pool party Tamaki was planning on Hosting.

A feeling that she was sure involved Saelind.


	15. Chapter 14: The Nightmare Begins

**Chapter Fourteen: The Nightmare Begins  
**

The following day, Saelind's head hurt badly.

She'd had a nightmare the previous night... one that had been reoccurring quite frequently ever since the fire. However, before she could so much as blink herself awake, someone started banging on her window with a vengeance. Saelind groaned and sleepily sat up, barely able to keep her eyes open. However, when the pounding persisted, she forced her body into action before her brain was fully awake and groggily stumbled over to the window.

"Come on, Saelind!" a muffled voice cried, accompanying the pounding with a frantic tinge. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

Just as Saelind slid her window open, however, something heavy hit her directly between the eyes.

"GAH!" the tiny girl yelped, stumbling backwards and tripping over her teddy bear; she landed flat on her back with both hands pressed against her skull, rolling around in pain; Haruhi instantly gasped and stopped swinging her broom, eyes wide with horror. A tired whine soon met her ears. "Ow... that HURT! What the hell _was_ that?!"

"Um..." Haruhi stammered, staring at the empty window with a blank expression, "my broom?"

"Your _broom?"_ Saelind groggily asked, feeling somewhat out of it as she stood back up. "Ugh... why the hell did you wake me up like that? It seriously _hurt, _God dammit!"

"No time to complain!" Haruhi shouted, dropping the broom and running over to her dresser. "We've gotta leave or we'll be late!"

"Huh?" Saelind croaked, poking her head out the window and glancing at the sky; she instantly snapped wide awake, since it was already light out. "Whoa, what the hell?! What time _is_ it?!"

"Eight thirty!" Haruhi called, frantically pulling on her dress slacks. "Go get dressed! We don't need anything added onto our debts!"

"Agh! Damn it!" Saelind growled, bolting for her closet and hastily dragging her Ouran uniform on. "I overslept!"

She flew through the process of getting her clothes on, and once she was dressed, the girl rapidly brushed her hair.

However, she didn't think of styling it until she was already out the door.

Haruhi was waiting for her near the stairs, something Saelind was confused about, but let go since they were both extremely late.

"Come on!" Haruhi shouted, waving the smaller girl on with enormous eyes. "Hurry! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Saelind snapped, giving the girl a glare even as she struggled to part her long hair; she still needed a way to keep her scars hidden from everyone. "Stop worrying about me and keep running!"

"Okay, fine, but just hurry!" the brunette panted, clutching her bag and pumping her arms as she ran. "We really can't be late for any classes at Ouran Academy, Saelind! Unlike normal schools, the teachers consider it to be as bad as a suspension! Five tardies could get an honor student suspended for three days, so we need to hurry!"

"I GET IT!" Saelind screeched, giving up on her hair and flailing her arms. "SHUT UP ALREADY! I'm coming!"

Not even caring that her tresses were blown away from her eyes for once, the girl angrily put everything she had into sprinting towards Ouran Academy. In truth, she figured she could style her hair once she arrived: it would have to wait until then, though, especially since she couldn't do it properly while she was moving. Saelind and Haruhi made on the school grounds just as the first bell chime rang.

"Ack! We're not gonna make it!" Haruhi wailed, slowing down to catch her breath; Saelind's eyebrow twitched and she let out a growl before speeding up, snatching the brunette's arm as she passed by. "EH?! H-hey, let go! Waaaah! W-what are you doing?!"

"SHUT UP!" Saelind spat, tearing into the school building with the girl practically flying behind her. "You woke me up by hitting me in the face with a _broom,_ you won't even close your mouth long enough for me to focus on getting to school, and you've annoyed the hell out of me! I swear to God, If you give up after doing all of that to me, I will KILL you, Haruhi! Now shut the fuck up and _run_ so I can temporarily forget that I'm TOUCHING you! Okay?! Shut it!"

Haruhi immediately shut her mouth and did as she was told, since in truth, it almost seemed as though Saelind were helping her.

Also... despite her small size, the two of them were practically flying towards their classroom. When Saelind skidded to a halt in front of the door and jerked the brunette to a halt as well, she jerked her hand off of Haruhi's arm and took a few breaths before slamming the door open and stomping inside. Her hand was twitching and she had already started rubbing it, but she didn't notice that everyone had turned to stare at her face until she was sitting down.

"His face!" a boy whispered, slowly covering his mouth with a revolted expression. "Oh, my God... look at his face!"

Saelind immediately froze, teal eye widening with a jolt.

"What?" she whispered, not comprehending what she'd just heard. "Wait..."

For a moment, she tried to process why everyone was staring at her, but then she gasped and her hand flew up to the left side of her head: when she felt around with her unburned fingers, the blood completely drained out of her face and she turned bone white. She'd forgotten to stop and style her hair, which meant that her scars had been exposed.

The world around her seemed to fade out and the panic slammed into her.

She could feel everyone's eyes... their judgement.

Saelind's heart skipped several beats when the faces around her seemed to distort and merge, becoming sinister.

"Nasty," another boy whispered, making several of the girls in the room huddle down. "No wonder his hair is so long."

"That's why he always wore that sweatshirt!" a third boy exclaimed. "Whoa!"

"Stop staring!" Saelind shrieked, covering her face with both arms and shielding her scars with her hair. "Don't look at me! Stop it!"

The murmurs in the room died down for a long moment... but then a familiar voice broke the silence.

"See?" Genji Momozono sneered from the doorway, drawing everyone's attention. "I told you all: he really is a Monster!"

"No, I'm not!" Saelind snapped, shaking her head without lowering her arms. "I'm not a monster! If anyone is, it's you!"

"Says the creep who's hiding his face," Genji chuckled, making Saelind grit her teeth behind her arms. "Admit it: you're a monster."

"Sorry, but he's really not," Kaoru and Hikaru finally drawled, standing up at the same time and slowly prowling around Saelind's desk like vultures with a choreography fetish; the girl twitched when she heard them stop behind her, and after a moment, she glanced over her shoulder to see them leaning against each other with cocky grins. "His temper is diabolical and yeah, he's got a few battle scars, but who really cares?"

"Are you really sticking up for that freak?" Genji scoffed, mouth falling open in surprise. "Really? You guys support good looks: he's ugly!"

"How could you say something like that?" Haruhi stoically demanded, staring at the startled boy with a quirked eyebrow. "Saelind Heseroph may be many things, but trust me, a monster isn't one... and really, neither is ugly."

"Haruhi and the twins are right," Renge sneered, checking her nails before glaring at the boy with a hard flick of her eyes. "I don't really like him, but he's a member of our Host Club, and I won't tolerate outsiders insulting him. Frankly, even _with_ his burn scars, he was considered beautiful enough to be accepted into the club, which actually makes him more capable than you. After all, I remember seeing your name a few months ago on an applications list from the previous year."

"Yeah, and Saelind-chan really is a lot nicer than you!" Mimi, a girl who sometimes frequented the Host Club, ranted. "He's quiet and kind of snappish, and yeah, he does seem kinda creepy now and then with some of his... habits... but, he's still nice!"

"Whatever," Genji finally growled, stalking out of the doorway. "Fine: defend the freak if you want to. No skin off my nose."

Once he was gone, Kaoru and Hikaru simultaneously swapped places: the former stepped in front of Saelind and flawlessly pulled a comb out of his pocket while the latter skillfully began braiding the girl's ebony tresses. Saelind flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting with gritted teeth and trying her hardest not to snap at them with her teeth. However, when they finally stepped away, her bangs had once again been braided over her eye and looped beneath her ear.

Saelind swallowed and glared off to the side when they stepped around to the front, reluctantly knowing she had to do the unthinkable.

"Thank you," she muttered, not looking up at them. "For doing that, and... for fixing... my hair."

"Anytime!" the twins chirped simultaneously, leaning down and giving her a grin; Saelind instantly leaned away, eye widening with a flash of angry wariness. "So, does this mean you've stopped hating the two of us?"

Saelind blinked, but then her glare slid into a reluctant smirk.

"Not on your life," she stated simply, giving them a lofty expression. "Just because I'm grateful doesn't mean we're friends."

Several girls gasped and immediately leaned forward with large eyes.

"How could you not like Hikaru and Koaru?!" one of them squealed, glancing at the others to see them nodding. "Their love is so... so... oh, it's something, all right! Beautiful... glamorous... I'd kill to be in your shoes!"

"Mmm-hmmm!" the other girls chorused, nodding at the same time. "It's true!"

"Are you talking about the creepy incestuous stunts they pull?" Saelind deadpanned, nose crinkling up in disgust. "Um... ew?"

"Ew?!" another girl squalled, leaning forward and forcing the girl to jerk back even further. "How could you say EW?! It's so BEAUTIFUL! AND ROMANTIC! AND... AND..."

"Utterly revolting and creepy?" Saelind unhelpfully finished, glancing at the twins to see them playing up the moment by looking as though they were honestly hurt by her words. Kaoru was leaning into Hikaru's chest and the latter was holding him, both looking like identical examples of woeful hurt. "Ugh... see what I mean? Brothers shouldn't be doing stuff like that!"

"Oh?" another girl demanded, smugly folding her arms. "And what do you know?!"

Saelind's answer was instantaneous.

"It's common morality," Saelind snapped, folding her arms and skulking down into her chair with a severe frown. "I mean, come on! if those wannabe gingers really _are_ interested in each other, there's no way in hell you'll ever get a shot at romance with _either one_ of them... and frankly, I don't know what you find so appealing about that."

It was as though a bolt of lightning swept through every single girl: a ringing noise filled the air as they all whited out, seeming to be eroding away. Kaoru and Hikaru seemed uncertain of what to do, as well, since every single girl was staring off at nothing with beady eyes exactly like Tamaki had when he'd found out Saelind's secret, and also during Haruhi's first physical examination. However, before anything else could be said, the teacher walked in and everyone took their seats.

Throughout the day, Saelind couldn't help but feel tired... and during her last hour, a particularly loud thunk suddenly echoed throughout the silence of her classroom. Haruhi glanced up from her textbook to peer at the long-haired girl sitting in the back of the room before letting out a sigh and glancing off to the side with dismayed eyes. Haruhi shook her head and looked back down at her book, ignoring the sound of their English teacher, Miss Onslow, jabbering away about something she'd already completed. However, the brunette didn't notice that the room had gone completely silent until Miss Onslow was standing not too far away from her.

"Excuse me, young man," she said calmly. "Could you please wake up?"

Haruhi glanced up again, but when she saw that the woman was actually talking to Saelind: she paused for a second and watched with curious brown eyes: there wasn't an answer from the Russian girl, only a little shuffling as Saelind repositioned herself on the desk. Miss Onslow sighed, looking around like one of them was going to help her.

The young woman eventually placed a hand on Saelind's back, but the second she touched her, the black-haired girl instantly jumped out of her seat with a gasp and whirled around. Her teal eye was darting around madly: it looked like she was waiting for someone to attack her.

"What on earth?!" Mrs. Onslow squawked, jumping away from her with both hands raised. "Are you all right?!"

After a moment of blinking herself awake, Saelind glanced around and realized she was standing several steps back from her desk.

She was still in the middle of class.

She internally rolled her eyes when Mrs. Onslow strode towards her again: she usually had no problems getting along with her teachers, but for some reason... this one absolutely hated her. No matter how accommodating and subservient she tried to be, Mamrie Onslow remained antagonistic towards her.

The teacher tapped on the desk with the corner of her textbook.

"I can accept the fact that some students will try to steal a few winks in class every now and then, but it's still unacceptable," the woman stated haughtily, giving Saelind an expression that made her want to bare her fangs. "Will you bring a pillow to school next time? I'd just hate to think that our uncomfortable desks should cause you any distress. Silly me, believing honor students should sleep at home... but then again, if you find your classes to be so boring, why show up at all?"

"Look, I'm sorry," Saelind muttered, shakily folding her arms across her chest and letting out a huff of irritation. "I finished the work you handed out, so I put my head down since I have a bit of a headache... I never meant to fall asleep."

"Perhaps," the woman retorted, narrowing her eyes, "or perhaps you're simply too _busy_ at night to get any sleep. Are you the kind of young man who stays out at all hours?"

"Not at all," the black-haired girl explained, evenly meeting the woman's gaze; all manner of anger had left her eyes the moment Mrs. Onslow had spoken. "However, even if I was, that wouldn't be any of your business. Before you get mad, let me just make something clear: if you _ever_ step beyond the boundaries of a teacher and student by making assumptions about my personal life, you can expect me to do the same, Ma'am. I already know that you're not _required_ to teach me, but that doesn't give you the right to talk down to me: I'm not a child."

For a moment, the woman actually blinked in surprise before staring at her large teal eye.

"Is that so? Well, what about your eyes?" the woman muttered, scowling in anger. "Are they_ naturally_ that color?"

"Yes, actually: these are the color they've been since I was born," Saelind politely responded, then pulled a strand of her thigh-length hair from behind her and held it in front of her teacher's face with a calm demeanor. "This is also my natural hair-length _and_ color: I'm not fond of extensions since they're too easy to rip out."

"You still can't put your head down in class," the woman retorted, folding her arms when the students stared. "If you finished your work in this class, you should try working on any work you've got in your other classes."

"I've finished _all_ of my required work, in this class _and_ out of it, so by all rights I'm allowed to put my head down," the dark-haired girl calmly retorted, keeping her voice neutral and polite. "At the moment, there is literally _nothing_ for me to do."

"Very well," Mrs. Onslow retorted firmly, straightening up and imperiously pointing at the board. "Then you can definitely tell me the answer to the question on the board. If you actually did the work like you said, you _should_ know the answer. Am I correct?"

After taking a glance at it, the black-haired girl flipped her notebook open and pointedly read the answer she had scribbled down a few minutes ago. Then she shot a half-lidded glance at the teacher, but the woman appeared far from satisfied. Instead, she glared at Saelind for a long moment, almost as if she were thinking about doing something a teacher shouldn't; then the enormous clock tower bell began to ring, and everyone gathered their things up.

When Mrs. Onslow swept back to her desk, Saelind sank back into her chair with a soft sigh of relief.

She hated being the center of attention.

However, her bliss was soon over since Kyouya, Honey, Mori, and Tamaki all showed up with varying levels of excitement on their faces. All of the girls who'd left the room had been gushing about the pool party they would be hosting that very day... because in truth, it was Tuesday, and Saelind's worst nightmare had arrived.


	16. Chapter 15: Competition Time!

**Chapter Fifteen: Competition Time!  
**

"Um... S-Senpai?" Haruhi asked, looking at the swimsuit selections with nervous brown eyes. "Have you forgotten that Saelind and I are actually... _girls?"_

"Of course not, Haruhi!" Tamaki laughed, pacing back and forth before he glanced at Kyouya. "In fact, it was extremely troubling for all of us to figure out a plan to prevent everyone from figuring out that the two of you were girls! Especially since the Academy's pool is finally open now! Yes, woefully, swim classes are starting up next week, so in order to prevent any questions from arising, Kyouya came up with this brilliant plan!"

Saelind was speechless: she couldn't even believe that the Host Club really expected her to go along with such a crazy idea.

But apparently, all of them did... and it made her clamp her arms down over her breasts, shivering violently from both anxiety and rage.

Shockingly, Haruhi didn't seem to be any less mortified by their plan.

"You've gone totally insane," Saelind snarled, baring her teeth and backing away from the table with the swimsuits; she froze when she bumped into Mori's stomach by accident, then leapt forward again with a startled squeak. "No way! You are NOT getting me into one of those things! I'll put on a T-shirt or something, but there's no way in hell I'm wearing it! That's final!"

"It's a little extreme," Haruhi weakly agreed, self-consciously covering her own chest. "We're girls, Senpai... it's not normal for us to go topless."

"But that's the beauty of it!" Tamaki laughed, glancing at the other boys to see nodding heads all around. "You won't be topless at all! It'll only look like it!"

"You are _insane!"_ Saelind screeched, clutching her hair with an enraged teal eye. "Topless is topless! It doesn't matter if we put those... things on!"

"Technically, you _could_ consider them to be skintight rubber shirts if you wanted to," Kyouya slyly intervened, looking up with a calm flick of his eyes. "Just put them on. I spent a large amount of money having them custom-made for the two of you, so the least you could do is humor us. I even had the one for Saelind specially designed to mold into the shape of her scars after she puts it on."

"You what?!" the girl cried, goggling at the glasses-wearing youth. "NO! No way in hell!"

"Saelind, we might not have a choice." Haruhi mumbled uncomfortably, glancing at the rubbery articles of clothing in front of them. "Let's just put them on."

"Yeah," the twins simultaneously stated, stroking their chins as they slowly walked around the girls like eagles stalking their prey. "We want to see!"

"SHUT UP!" Saelind shrieked, clamping her hands over her breasts with a horrified expression. "You perverts are not getting a single look!"

"Oh, come now, this isn't so bad, right?" Kyouya quietly asked, catching the attention of the two girls since he was using _that_ tone again. You know, the one where the quiet guy is getting ready to go psycho with some sort of devious payback plan if you don't do what he wants. "Please, ladies... go get dressed: we don't have time to be wasting, since everyone is waiting on us at the pool entrance. We need to get going sooner rather than later."

"Fine," Saelind finally muttered, shivering when he glanced at her with a sharp glare that didn't match his pleasant smile. "I'll... I'll p-put it on."

"Wonderful," Tamaki cheered, clapping his hands before he grabbed a suit of his own. "Let's go change, everyone! We mustn't keep our loyal guests waiting!"

"This is so exciting, Tama-chan!" Honey exclaimed, skipping up to a baby-blue pair of swim trunks. "A real pool! Let's go get changed, Takeshi!"

"Okay," the giant muttered, stoically following the smaller boy and snatching the largest pair of trunks in sight as he passed. "I'm coming."

The twins circled around Haruhi and Saelind a few more times before stalking over to the table and snatching their own swimwear.

After they'd left, Kyouya snapped his filebook closed and walked out of the room, not hesitating to grab a deep purple pair of trunks.

Soon, the girls were left in an awkward situation, both of them staring at the door with frazzled hair.

"We might as well slide those things on," Haruhi muttered, unbuttoning her blazer and loosening her tie. "I have to admit, though, I agree with you."

"I swear to god, it's like they're purposely trying to piss me off," Saelind growled, pulling a Bruce Almighty stunt with her uniform and angrily stomping over to the swim trunks. After a moment of staring at the ugly pair of red shorts, the girl shuddered and slowly slid her underwear off before snatching the artificial chest that Kyouya had somehow gotten her. Her face paled when it flopped in her hand like real flesh. "Eeeew... what the hell is this thing made of?! It feels real! Ew, ew, ew! Don't tell me he..."

"I doubt it!" Haruhi sighed, flapping a dismissive hand before she picked up her own artificial chest and frowned. "Ew... you're right, it does feel gross. Still, Kyouya-Senpai always aims for the best stuff out there, so these things are most likely made of some random material we've never even heard of before. I doubt it's something as practical as real skin... although, the thought isn't a comforting one."

Giving a shrug, Saelind slid the thing on and wheezed when it completely flattened her breasts down like a corset would. After a few moments of adjusting the artificial chest, the black-haired girl glanced down at herself and twitched when she realized her scars were becoming visible on the front of it... almost as though it were molding against her skin like some sort of putty. When she tried to bend over and pull her swim trunks on, however, she realized with a jolt that her movements had been severely restricted.

Mostly because an agonizing pain shot through her chest-area.

"OW!" Saelind squealed, standing upright and clutching her flattened chest with shuddering shoulders. "This thing makes my boobs hurt!"

"You're telling me," Haruhi groaned, sliding her own trunks on with a wince. "Ugh... ow. This thing might keep our secret, but swimming isn't gonna be much fun with it. More like painful. Really, really painful."

"I'm gonna die," Saelind spat, smacking her face and rubbing her eyes once she'd gotten her trunks on. "This is so humiliating. Why do we have to do this?"

"Because we owe the people in the Host Club," Haruhi muttered, giving her a shrug before she pulled on a nearby T-shirt. "That's why."

"Toss me that zip-up thing," the Russian girl grunted, averting her teal eye with an intense scowl. "Even though it's not my real body, this thing still shows my scars."

When Haruhi did as she'd asked, the two of them uneasily left the music room. Saelind winced whenever she twisted her body since her breasts ached every time she moved against the rubbery thing she was wearing. When she and Haruhi finally rejoined the boys, she sighed and hung her head, since they all started talking about random stuff as usual.

However, the moment they walked outside, Saelind twitched and pulled the zip-up sweatshirt around her chest.

Within only a few minutes, everyone began to relax and have fun since the competitions weren't supposed to start until later on that afternoon: Saelind glanced around for Ami, but she didn't see her anywhere, so the girl obviously hadn't arrived yet. So, while everyone was off having fun in the water or talking with the guests of the Host Club, the dark-haired girl retreated to a shady corner and watched everyone have fun with her knees drawn up to her chin. Several of the girls who'd requested her came over to chat, and she humored them a little since Kyouya glared at her with a smile, but in truth... everyone else who noticed her did nothing but stare.

And she hated it.

So, against her better judgement, she said so out loud in spite of the five girls who were now sitting near her.

"I don't wanna do this," Saelind grumbled, leaning back against the wall and withdrawing into her hood. "I hate being at the pool..."

"Why, Sae-Kun?" one of the girls who'd requested her asked, crawling over and sitting down. "Don't you want to swim?"

No... she didn't want to swim, she wanted to go home and pretend that an annoying group called the Host Club didn't exist.

"No, I don't," Saelind retorted in a no-nonsense manner, shaking her head and peering at her with a half-hidden glare. "I hate being stared at."

"Oh... your scars?" another girl sighed, clasping both hands between her chest area. "Saelind, nobody here will judge you, I promise! Will you please take the shirt off and come have fun with everyone?"

Saelind just about bit her tongue off from the anger, but she halted when Kyouya unexpectedly shot her a fierce glare from behind a glint of his glasses.

Jerking upright, she glared right back at him until he smirked and quirked an eyebrow.

"Do I... really have to?" Saelind practically whined, shivering violently when the girls leaned forward with sympathetic and earnest eyes. "I... don't... right?"

"Please, Sae-Kun," another girl pleaded, leaning forward with a small grin. "We will not judge you! Promise!"

"It's true," the first girl stated, looking up when Saelind closed her teal eye with a sick expression. "You're you! Just break out of your shell and let it go!"

"Is there a problem over here?" Tamaki asked, swimming up to the side of the pool and looking at them with a worried expression. "Saelind, are you okay?"

"No! I'm not!" the Russian girl sulked, shivering violently. "I don't want to take my shirt off"

"Why not?" Tamaki asked, blinking as though it weren't a stupid question. "You're fine the way you are, so don't worry about what other people think."

"Easy for you to say, Mister '_People-Always-Say-I'm-Dripping-with-Good-Looks'_," Saelind muttered to herself. "Can't you just go away?"

"Sorry," Tamaki chuckled, giving the ladies a winning smile. "I'll leave you alone if you really want me to"

Saelind instantly smacked her forehead and let out a huff of air: in all honesty, the Host Club made such a big deal out of everything that it constantly drove her nuts. Pardon her for not wanting to, in all actuality, take her shirt off and run around topless. Oh, yes, it was Saelind's absolute goal in life to show off how fucked up her body was! And now, because of the blackmail they were holding over her head, she could finally check that disturbing dream off the list.

_Not,_ she grumbled silently, pouting like a two-year-old. _I hate this place so much._

"Fine," Saelind muttered, slowly standing up and walking out into the sunlight; the girls instantly gasped and cheered, clapping for her. "However, I have only one condition if I do this."

"What?" Tamaki and the girls chorused, blinking at her with curious eyes. "Tell us!"

"You have to promise not to stare at me, at all," Saelind stated firmly and loudly, making sure her voice was loud and clearly heard. "That goes for everyone present: if anybody here stares at me, I'm getting my things and going home, all right?"

Nods of agreement flew all around... and just as Ami walked out into the sunlight with a beautiful blue-eyed redhead at her side, Saelind let the hoodie fall.

Her snowy skin was illuminated by the sunlight, and her dark hair billowed around when she freed it from its braid.

Gasps erupted all around when her horrific burn scars had been revealed... but then, after a moment, Saelind jumped since a hand touched the small of her back. She bit her tongue and fought back a snarl when another hand touched her... and then another, and another, and another. Her eye slowly widened in horror when she realized that five hands were resting on her skin.

_No way..._ she silently muttered, slowly turning her head and glancing at the guests who'd requested her. _Oh, my God... what the hell are they doing?!_

In truth, all five girls had gotten up and moved forward to to stand behind her: they all looked extremely pretty since their bathing suits were of the flashy and expensive variety, and compared to someone as small, pale, and deformed as Saelind... well, let's just say that even the most unappealing girl in the group managed to look like a goddess when standing beside her.

However, in spite of that, all five girls had set a hand on her back, and all of them were smiling at the other students having fun in the pool.

"See, Sae-Kun?" one of the girls asked, finally removing her hand. "It's not so bad. Nobody is staring, right?"

It was true: after giving her scars an extremely startled expression, most of the people had practically forgotten about them.

"Well, well, well," Hikaru suddenly drawled, stepping into view and circling around Saelind's shivering form. "Never thought we'd see you..."

"...with no shirt on," Kaoru finished, mirroring his brother's movements. "It's actually not that bad: you've got a small body, but a great figure."

"If you two don't quit doing that circling stuff," Saelind growled, shoulders tensing up when the girls squealed and backed up with several giggles, "I swear to God that I am going to pull a Bruce Lee move on you and kill your stupid asses! Quit it!"

"You won't kill us," Kaoru stated smugly. "You can't."

"Yeah," Hikaru chuckled, looping his arm through his brother's. "You happen to like us a little too much."

"I also like food, which means I _eat_ it," Saelind angrily retorted; to get her point across, she bared her extremely long fangs and snapped them together with a loud clicking noise. "Now, shut your disturbingly synchronized mouths before I use excessive force to shut them for you. Got it?"

"Come now, Saelind, you shouldn't act like that," Kyouya sighed, chuckling a little as he sat down at the edge of the pool. "You really mustn't tell the twins to be quiet... after all, you might as well be asking Mount Everest to walk to your front door so it can bow down to you."

"Hey!" Kaoru exclaimed, eyes widening in offense.

"That's mean!" Hikaru scoffed.

"We can be quiet!" the twins cried at the same time, looking extremely insulted. "We just don't like to!"

Saelind rolled her eye and sat down again with a sigh; she felt like she'd rather be eaten by a heard of squealing porcupines than go swimming with the Host Club, but at least Ami would be her partner. That thought made things a little easier for her. Speaking of Ami... when she and the redhead approached, several guys grinned like stupid idiots since both of them looked smoking hot.

"Whoa," Haruhi droned, staring at the redhead with large eyes. "Dude, I didn't even think two piece bikinis were allowed in schools!"

"Oh, Haruhi, hello," the girl stated haughtily, fluffing her luscious red hair out with a sharp smile. "It seems that since you've forgiven me, I've been allowed to come visit the Host Club again. I do feel grateful, especially since it seems I missed out on the introduction of another host."

"Hello, Ayanokoji Hime-sama," Haruhi stated respectfully, giving her a nod. "Thank you for agreeing to be my partner... I'm hoping we can start over."

Saelind quirked an eyebrow since the redhead's smile seemed so pained that it was almost a grimace: if it was anything, it definitely wasn't a happy grin.

"Yes, well, we have all afternoon to set things right," the redhead sighed, then turned her eyes on Saelind before freezing with a momentary flash of disgust on her face; however, the expression was quickly masked by sympathy. "Oh, dear... you poor little kitten. What on earth happened to you?"

"I was in a fire," Saelind deadpanned, folding her arms and tilting her head back. "Nothing more."

"Oh, you poor dear," Seika sighed, covering her mouth: her two-piece red-hot bikini didn't match her false demeanor. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Saelind," the black-haired girl finished, closing her eye when the redhead trailed off. "Saelind Heseroph. Oh, and before you try... I don't do handshakes."

With that, she gave the girl a nod and glanced at Ami, who was smiling at her with the same grin as always.

"Hi, you," she stated sweetly, plopping down beside Saelind when the girl sat down; after a moment, she glanced at the black-haired girl's flat chest and stared with a startled expression. "Whoa... don't tell me that's your real chest."

"No," Saelind hissed, giving her a sulking pout. "Ami, my boobs may be small, but they're definitely not flat as a washboard!"

"Then how?" the girl whispered back, taking her glasses off with a stunned expression. "It looks real to me!"

"It's a corset-thing that Kyouya ordered," the Russian girl explained, giving a small shrug. "It's made of some weird substance that molded to my skin."

"Ew," Ami muttered, shivering a little. "I hope you're not insulted by the fact that I find that horribly revolting."

"Not at all," Saelind snorted, rolling her visible teal eye. "I said the same thing when I found out I had to put the damn thing on."

For a long moment, the two of them merely sat side by side and watched the others swim for a while: Haruhi was talking with Seika about the upcoming competition and explaining certain things, Tamaki was being fawned over by a gaggle of giggling girls like always, Kyouya was... well, shockingly enough, _flexing_ his _biceps_ for a few of his fans, the twins were doing their best at entertaining the ladies with more creepy brother stories, Honey was paddling around in the pool with a floaty-tube, and Mori...

Saelind froze, eye widening and face draining of color.

Then, of it's own accord, her hand snatched Ami's and squeezed.

"Eh?!" Ami squeaked, glancing down at her hand before she looked up at Saelin'd frightened face. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"He's looking right at me," Saelind whined, mouth trembling in fear. "Dude, why is he looking at me like that?!"

"Huh? Who are you talking about?" the brunette asked, putting her glasses back on and peering in the direction the smaller girl nodded to. "Oh, him? He does this all the time, exactly like I told you. When he's not hanging out with his cousin, Honey, he's always staring at you."

"But _why?!" _the girl wailed quietly, shuddering at the thought. "Is he, like, a creeper or something? Why is he staring at me like that?! It's weird!"

"He likes small things," Ami stated simply, giving her a shrug. "He always has. Or maybe, he might be falling in love."

"Ew! Stop!" Saelind snapped, shooting her a death glare. "Seriously, that'll never happen! I'm a burn-victim, remember? I'm not attractive, either, so there's no reason he'd ever think like that! It has to be for some other reason..."

"I dunno," Ami drawled, tilting her head and smirking when she saw that Mori was still staring with a dazed expression. "He seems lovesick to me."

"Ugh, shut up!" the girl groaned, grabbing her hair and using it to hide her face. "It's not funny anymore! Stop reminding me of things I'll never have!"

"If you say so," the brunette sighed, rubbing her belly with a sigh; then she saw Tamaki getting up and lifting his arms. "Hmmm,.. looks like it's about to start. Are you ready? Because we've got some aquatics to pull off: I've been practicing on my own for a few days, but I'm still gonna need a foam board."

"Sounds fine to me," Saelind sighed, giving a nonchalant shrug. "Let's get busy."

"Welcome to the Host Club's Pool Opening party!" Tamaki laughed, waving his arms to catch everyone's attention. "Are you all ready to perform in the aquatics matches?! Some of our loveliest ladies are participating today, so if you're ready for this, give us a cheer!"

Saelind winced and covered her ears since every student practically screamed in excitement.

"Let the competitions..." Kaoru laughed, eyes shining mischievously as he and the other boys took their places next to their partners, "begin!"

"First up is the hard-boiled ferry challenge!" a girl happily called through the loudspeaker that Tamaki handed to her. "The point of the game is to tread water with your partner and use teamwork to keep the egg from falling off of the holder and into the water!"

"Okay, easy enough," Saelind murmured, smirking after she spotted what they were going to be doing. "We can handle this."

"You seem excited," Ami noted, giving her a grin. "Let's jump in."

So saying, she ran over to the edge and performed a beautiful jackknife: when she surfaced, she spluttered and taunted Saelind with a laugh.

"Beat that!" the brunette called, giving the smaller girl a wave. "Come on, let's see a better dive."

"Fine," Saelind called back in a simplistic tone, giving her a shrug. Then, bouncing on her toes, the girl performed a run that was similar to something a high-jumper would do before attempting a bar-hop. However, at the last second, she sprang herself into the air and spread her arms wide, performing a gorgeous swan dive. She slid beneath the surface of the pool with barely a ripple... but then, her long hair fanned out and she swam towards the surface with a small sense of exhilaration flooding through her.

When she broke the surface, people were cheering and clapping: even the members of the Host Club.

However, when she and Ami were given their egg and holder, the dark-haired girl reluctantly tied her hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. Then she glanced at her partner with a firm expression.

"Since I'm doing this," she stated sourly, giving the brunette a sneer, "we're playing to win."

"Sounds good to me," Ami giggled, giving her a smile that didn't touch her eyes. "Let's get going, bestie!"

Neither girl noticed the unhappy frown that Haruhi sent at the taller brunette.

However, that was also because they didn't have the time since a popping sound went off.

With a flurry of splashes and squeals of delight, everyone began a goal that held no deep meaning whatsoever.

Then again, even though being shallow was one of the Host Club's specialties... they did know how to have a lot of weirdly satisfying fun.


	17. Chapter 16: When Life Flashes

**Chapter Sixteen: When Life Flashes Behind Your Eyes...  
**

Saelind's lungs were heaving: every muscle burned, and her eye was stinging from the chlorine, but she kept going because Ami was trying just as hard.

The two of them were swimming together, side by side, in an attempt to stay in first place: Honey, Mori, Tamaki, the twins, and Kyouya were all standing on the edge of the pool with their individual partners, since they'd all lost one after another in the previous competitions. However, since Saelind, Ami, Seika, Haruhi, and another regular-student team were still winning the competitions, the members of the Host Club didn't exactly know who to root for specifically. So most of their cheers consisted of vague things like 'you can do it!' and 'go, go, go!'.

"Come on, guys, you can do it!" Honey gleefully cried, tossing his fists into the air. "You can win this! Go for it!"

Saelind would have snapped a retort had she not been so intent on staying in the damn race: she and Ami were currently doing the second-to last competition, which was a one-legged swim race. They had been doing things like this for so long that the sky was beginning to turn orange. However, unlike the others in the tournament, the Russian girl wasn't gonna give up: she'd been forced to join, so she was gonna win this fairly no matter what.

And those were no idle beliefs: she and Ami were had come in first place in all of the competitions aside from the first two... and even now, they were in first, since the two of them were the only team doing a difficult swim style. The black-haired girl kicked her scarred leg and flopped with the motion of the water until she felt like her spine was about to snap: doing the butterfly was extremely hard with the artificial chest on, not even counting the fact that she had to try her hardest to keep pace with Ami's longer body.

Her long hair had been tied back into a bun after the second competition since it had severely slowed her down... hence why they hadn't come in first.

"We're almost... there!" Ami gasped between breaths, practically sparkling in the spray she sent flying. "Come... on... Saelind! We can... do this!"

It was true: they were so close to the end of this tournament that the dark-haired girl could almost feel the relief that was now within her grasp.

"Just... shut... up..." the smaller girl growled, kicking her leg like crazy and gritting her teeth, "and... SWIM!"

Ami did exactly as she was told, and the two of them continued swimming: kick and flop... kick and flop... kick and flop...

But then, right when Saelind thought she was going to have to stop, her head bumped into something hard.

"WINNER!" Tamaki suddenly howled, lifting his arms high into the air with a broad grin; everyone instantly let out a cheer and got rowdy. "First place goes to Saelind Heseroph and Ami Kikiroshi! Second place goes to Haruhi Fujioka and Seika Ayanokoji! Mimi Mayabuki and Reiji Koizumo... sorry, but you're out!"

The duo who'd come in third place gave each other a sheepish grin and shrugged, giving each other a hug before paddling over to the edge of the pool.

More cheers erupted when Tamaki began ranting about the final competition: even after six hours of having fun, nobody had gotten bored or left the school. However, by this point, Saelind was too tired to care: breathing heavily, the tiny girl slowly dislodged her left leg from the tie keeping her and Ami linked together before heaving herself onto the side of the pool. She flopped onto her back and heaved for air, completely ignoring all of the people who were running over to congratulate her and Ami.

There was supposedly going to be a ten minute break before the final stand-off between the last competitors, so once she'd caught her wind, the raven-haired girl sat up and decided to cool off in a corner of the pool yard. Hoping to catch a quick break before the final match, she sat down on one of the recliner chairs that Tamaki had brought for the party and closed her eyes with a groan: most people didn't realize it, but Saelind had issues with overexerting the left half of her body. Because of how badly she'd been burned, the movement of her arm, neck, torso, and leg was dangerously limited.

She couldn't feel anything on the surface of her skin any longer, that much was true... but she could definitely feel beneath it.

And straining the burned half of her body really, really hurt.

Hence why she'd demanded that she and Ami be tied together on that side: it made quite a bit of sense despite her hatred for physical contact.

In truth, there were hundreds of available surgeries that could lessen the pain in her body... and agonizingly enough, there were even more types of surgeries that could make her face look the way it had been before the fire. She had seen ads about another girl who's face had been completely deformed because her psychotic ex-boyfriend had dunked her entire head in a bucket of dangerous acidic chemicals. After that, she'd looked so mutilated she had been unrecognizable... but then, after receiving only three months of highly expensive skin-surgeries amongst other things, the girl had very nearly gotten her old face back.

Compared to the way she'd looked after the creep had gone nuts, the improvement had been so vast that Saelind had been sure that the same treatment could work for her. Unfortunately, though, everyone aside from her brother had been completely against it because the risk of her being seen was too high. According to everyone else, to completely eradicate the threat of a random paparazzi getting a snapshot of her 'deformities' it was a better solution to say that she'd died in the fire.

Several people had been against that as well, her father included, but the Duchess hadn't listened.

It was also around that time that her father had ditched the family and run off somewhere: he hadn't been able to take the pressure that came with being a Diplomat.

That's why, in a twisted attempt to make him come back, the Duchess had sent Saelind to live in Japan by herself.

After all, when it came to money, her mother never had enough and always wanted more: she'd never spend thousands of dollars to fix her daughter's broken face.

In her mind, it had been a better idea to send her away and pretend like nothing had ever happened in the first place.

_Yes, Mother Dearest, that was sweet of you__, _Saelind silently snarled, mentally rolling her eyes. _God, I'm tired... why did I even agree to participate in this?_

The sound of someone sitting down next to her halted the girl's mental tirade and invaded her bitter thoughts. When she opened her teal eye and slowly turned her head, she twitched when she saw Takeshi sitting on one of the recliners: when he slowly glanced at her, the girl clamped up in fright. Ami's statements from earlier about this boy's weird behavior was still bugging her, and this made it no less difficult to comprehend.

"Hi," Mori murmured, turning his head and staring at Honey, who was bouncing around in a floaty-tube and shouting something about cake for prizes. "Room for two?"

"Do what you want," Saelind mumbled, looking down at the concrete with a nervous expression. "However, leave me out of whatever it is, please."

"Hn," Mori grunted, not even looking at her again. Saelind swallowed before closing her eye again, waiting for Tamaki to call out the last competition. However, before she could so much as begin to relax, Ami Kikiroshi and Seika Ayanokoji walked up with Haruhi trailing close behind, looking somewhat uncomfortable for some reason. When the redhead tapped her, however, Saelind's eye flew open wide and she jerked away with a savage hiss.

"Oh, my!" Seika gasped, jerking her hand back with a startled expression; she quickly smoothed it over, however, and smirked at the growling girl. "How quaint."

"This growl isn't for show, lady," Saelind warned, exposing her long canines with a fierce one-eyed glare. "Don't touch me. Fair warning."

"Well, how rude! I only came over here to wish you luck since you're definitely going to need it!" Seika sighed, giving the black-haired girl a haughty smirk. "After all, I just overheard from Tamaki that the last competition is going to be a race for beauty."

Saelind blinked three times before she narrowed her eyes in fury and turned a vicious glare on her.

"Oh?" she asked with a sinister chuckle, making Haruhi's eyes widen in horror; she'd heard that particular tone before. "So, basically, you think I need to have luck because I'm not good-looking, right? Is that it?"

"I never said any such thing," Ayanokoji scoffed, tossing her gleaming wet hair with a trail of sparkles. "My word, you are cynical."

"You may not have said it directly, but it was definitely implied," Saelind snorted, folding her arms with a devilish smirk. "Cynical or not, people would have to be blind not to see it. Look, lady, I don't care who you are: if you think you're better than me just because I've got these scars, that would immediately make you ugly. If not in body, then in soul. However, because I personally _loathe_ loaded statements, I'm gonna beat you. WITH these scars. So, don't wish me luck... save it for yourself."

With that, Saelind cocked her head with a sarcastic smile and grabbed Ami's hand, pulling the seemingly oblivious brunette away from the redhead.

"Well, that was... rather insulting," Seika stated flatly, forcing an angry smile with shaking shoulders. "Who does he think he is?"

"You might not wanna push him," Haruhi hesitantly warned, wincing when the redhead whirled to face her with burning eyes. "Seriously! He's scary when provoked!"

"I'll show you provoked, Haruhi-_kun_," Ayanokoji giggled mockingly, leaning forward and provocatively squeezing her arms together to make her breasts jiggle. "Any man would be crazy not to fall in love with such a lovely lady, right?"

"Uh..." Haruhi droned, turning away in an effort to avoid responding. "I guess?"

Mori was listening to the conversation, but he was still watching Honey and Saelind with keen eyes, gaze methodically flashing back and forth between the two of them.

He alone knew something that most of the others didn't: they were too slow to catch on, but in reality, maybe that would work in his favor.

At the moment, Saelind was currently standing next to Ami: the shapely brunette was doing stretches, and every guy had his eyes on her since the bathing suits she and Seika were wearing were the only ones that differed from the other girls. Apparently, they hadn't come prepared for the pool opening since they'd originally had no intentions of swimming, but things had changed so they'd donned what they'd been given.

Saelind looked even more slender and scrawny than she usually did in her knee-length swim-trunks, especially since she was wearing an artificial chest. She looked almost like a little kid, and it kind of pissed her off that everyone around her was taller than she was. After a moment, however, Ami turned and glanced at her, not even noticing that she was sulking.

"Why aren't you stretching?" the brunette asked, doing a ditzy little jig before continuing with her stretches. "You need to do it or you'll get cramps!"

"Well, I'm too lazy and I hate stretching because it hurts my left side," Saelind bluntly retorted, shrugging her scrawny shoulders. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, actually!" Ami asked, turning to look at her with a cheerful grin. "Which would you prefer to have? A pet cheetah, or a pet penguin?"

"Huh?" Saelind confusedly droned; she opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "Well, I guess I'd prefer the cheetah."

"Why?" Ami prompted, sitting down on the edge of the pool and tilting her head back she could look at Saelind with adorably curious eyes. "Why the cheetah?"

"Well, because cheetahs are beautiful, lonely, and fierce... like wolves," Saelind muttered uncomfortably, giving a little shrug. "Also, it'd be weird to have a pet penguin. I mean really, where would I keep it? The freezer? Anyway, w-what about you? W-w-which pet would y-you... want?"

"Penguin," Ami replied, not even having to think about it.

"Why?" Saelind asked in surprise, giving her a blank stare. "Don't tell me it's because you think they're cute... please."

"Well, in truth, that is part of the reason," Ami admitted, then shook her head and sighed. "Okay, picture that you've just had the worst day in existence. I mean, really: your dog was hit by an ice-cream truck, your computer crashed and completely ruined the paper you've been working on for three and a half weeks, and your... um... romantic partner... cheated on you with his or her science tutor because he or she has no taste whatsoever. Now, you're thinking about going up to your room and killing yourself when, suddenly, your pet penguin waddles towards you with a red bow tied around its neck. Go ahead, tell me that's not going to make you smile for at least a few seconds."

Shockingly enough, Saelind actually giggled a little because of the mental image she'd created; then she caught herself and covered her mouth to hide her blush.

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess you do... sort of... have a point," the Russian girl reluctantly admitted. "But still, why a penguin? I mean, come on! Those things are, like, objects of the devil or something! Haven't you ever heard what they sound like when they let loose their animal call?! It's creepy and weird!"

"Maybe they're just misunderstood," Ami murmured softly, giving Saelind such a huge grin that the girl blinked in surprise. "After all, you were at first, too. Give them a chance and maybe you'll see how sweet penguins can really be."

Saelind blinked rapidly as she processed that... but when she made the connection, something hard inside her chest seemed to bloom with warmth and her frigid teal eye softened once again. And yet again, despite how deformed her scars made her look, those soft lips tilted upwards into a beautiful smile: right around that moment, Mori sat upright and leaned forward, watching the scene in front of him with an intense expression. However, he wasn't looking at Saelind.

He was looking at Honey, who was staring at the dark-haired girl with large eyes and a huge smile.

He'd seen the grin: Honey only beamed like that when someone who was sad had finally cheered up. The smile of relief.

"All right, my wonderful guests!" Tamaki finally called, making the black-haired girl scowl and turn to look at him. "It's time for the final competition! Nothing fancy this time, though: for the end, we're doing a classic tag-team lap race to strive for the BEAUTY of friendship!"

"What?" Seika gasped, eyes widening in shock before she glanced down at her swimsuit. "But... I thought..."

"Senpai's not as obvious as you think," Haruhi sighed, flapping a dismissive hand. "You should have expected this."

"Now, will the last two teams get in the water?" Tamaki asked, twirling around with a graceful flourish and gesturing for Ami, Saelind, Haruhi, and Seika to get in. "We'd all be very happy to see both of you wonderful teams win! But remember: no matter who wins or loses, it's all in good fun!"

"Yeah, yeah," Saelind grumbled, giving him a dirty look. "We get it."

Once she was situated next to Ami, Haruhi and princess Ayanokoji got in as well: Ami and Haruhi would be going first... which meant that Saelind's quick speed in the water would be exceptionally useful as a last spurt tactic. The dark-haired girl felt revved up enough to win, and she was sure as hell going to do her best: however, with a tag team, she partially had to rely on her partner since she could only swim once Ami made it back to her.

"All right!" Tamaki called, eliciting an excited cheer from the watchers: almost everyone had gathered at the side of the pool to watch, since they were genuinely enthused about the race. "Ready... set... GO!"

"Go Ami!" Saelind shouted, watching with an intense teal eye as her partner took off. "Go! Go! Go!"

Ami was quick, that much was true, but Haruhi was surprisingly just as good of a swimmer: she was keeping an even pace with the other brunette's movements, and the two of them touched the opposite edge of the pool around the same time. Saelind was delighted when Ami clapped her hand on the return... because, before anyone could blink, she lunged forward and tore into the water like a shark.

She didn't even realize that Seika was doing a somewhat easy and extremely revealing backstroke in order to get everyone's attention: she was able to move fast without going too hard... and in the end, that's probably where Saelind had gone wrong. Because when the girl hit the opposite end of the pool, she flipped underwater and tried to kick off like she'd done when she'd still been on the swim team back in Russia... but because of her lack of stretching, her left leg was pulled too far.

The girl's eyes, blind and not, widened in horror when her leg began to seize.

Mostly because by the time she surfaced, Ayanokoji had just touched off as well and was slowly coming close to passing her.

Struggling to swim, the girl managed to get going again... but around that moment, two voices split the air.

"Move over!" someone snapped. "Jeez, I wanna see, too!"

"Hey, don't push!" a boy shouted. "That's dangerous!"

"Whoa!" the first cried. "ACK!"

Saelind looked up just in time to see two huge shadows falling towards her... but then, before she could so much as blink, an elbow smashed into her nose. The world blurred with a flash of light and a ringing silence dominated the girl's mind. Water clouded her vision as she struggled to move, flailing her arms. Then she realized that small streams of red were floating around through the clearness of the water. Saelind stared at the red with dazed teal eyes: the choking liquid pressed in on her from all sides, making her movements sluggish. Her chest was burning and she was desperate for air... but she was too weak to find the surface, and her struggles slowly began to grow weaker. Darkening spots flashed in front of her eyes, making it hard to see anything.

However... the water was soothing... it was embracing her in a velvety coat.

So unlike the fire that had marked her...

Saelind's eyes fluttered when she slowly began to sink underwater, arms stretched out toward the rippling surface as her energy dissolved. As she faced the orange sky that was so close and yet so far away, her long black hair swirled around her scarred face and flashed like a dark mirror as it drifted around. Staring at the flickering shafts of light with hazed teal eyes, she watched as the faint rippling above her grew dimmer... fading by the second.

_Why is it so cold?_ Saelind vaguely wondered, staring out at nothing as she drifted in and out of consciousness. _Where am I…? Am I underwater? Or is this just a dream?_

However, she was too tired to care. Yes... she was tired... in so many ways... all she really wanted to do was sleep.

Yes... sleep... maybe then the pain would fade... her head hurt... her heart hurt... her throat hurt, probably from the howling... only sleep could soothe this hurt.

_Sleep..._

_The velvety coldness dissolved and all of a sudden she was dry and warm. Her soft teal eyes snapped open, however, when a freezing pair of hands started shaking her body. After a moment, she slowly shook her head and swallowed, shivering violently: she'd been having a nightmare about having to eat wasabi in front of everyone at school, which was her worst nightmare since she couldn't stand spicy foods. However, for some reason she still felt like she was burning up instead of freezing to death in the usual cold sweat. For a moment, she blearily tried to close her eyes again... but the hands continued shaking._

_"Saelind, wake up! We need to get out of here!" a girl angrily _yelled _in Russian, smacking her shoulder repeatedly. "Hurry up! We have to run away!"_

_Feeling quite upset by the noise and violent jerking, the eleven-year-old girl mustered a tired glare at the person who was shaking her so roughly, not quite comprehending what was going on. It was then that her mind recognized the person as the woman who lived upstairs, Alexandria Valvinosh: she'd always been sent to stay with Miss Alex since her brother, Saelvan, was always busy playing at the parties their parents hosted. Their mother was always throwing some sort of shindig at this apartment complex because it had all of the best luxuries as far as decorations went._

_Miss Alex had autism and got rather lonely since her children lived in Japan with their father, so most of the time, she'd offered to baby sit Saelind._

_The girl slowly sat up on the bed Alex had given her and tried to comprehend what was going on, but the big-boned brunette woman grabbed her slender arm and yanked her off the mattress, ignoring her yelp of surprise. After that, she began dragging the girl out of the bedroom and fled through the apartment suite; after a moment, the little girl registered a horrible screeching sound... the sound of multiple fire alarms spreading throughout the building._

_It was then that the girl also noticed that she and Alex were the only ones in the hall._

_However, when they made it to the stairwell, Alexandria yanked open the door and a torrid wave of heat hit them both from the hallway._

_She instantly shrieked and backed away, holding Saelind close to her stomach: the stairs were on fire._

_"EEEK!" the woman shrieked, covering her mouth with her sleeve and slamming the door shut when the embers roared into the hall. "NO! Why here?!"  
_

_Alex instantly pushed Saelind out of the way and started stomping on the flames when a few of the cinders caught fire, but the flames only grew larger and started spreading across the carpet. Saelind stood where she was as the heat washed over her body, staring at the burning hall with wide aquamarine eyes: something wasn't right... she felt as though this had happened once before._

_She slowly glanced down at her smooth, beautiful hands and touched her face in confusion as something in her mind fuzzily began to stir._

_Why was this familiar?_

_Saelind shook her head and tried to figure out what was going on. Her glossy black hair rippled like dark water in the light of the spreading inferno, nightgown billowing out in the fiery wind that had engulfed the hallway.  
_

_"Alex...?" she whimpered, looking up at the brunette woman's terrified honey-brown eyes. "What's going on?"  
_

_"It's nothing, my honey!" the woman shouted in choppy English, grabbing the girl's hand and dragging her back into the suite; with a fierce slam, she shut the front door and flew into the kitchen even though the smoke had already started sliding through the cracks. Throwing a towel under the faucet in the sink, she soaked it thoroughly before sprinting back over to the door and tucking it under the bottom with a shiver of relief. "That should help for a few minutes... we have to get the window open! Saelind, help me!"_

_"Yes, Ma'am!" she cried, running over and struggling to push the sealed window up. "Ow! Alex, it's stuck! It won't move!"  
_

_"Try harder!" the woman wheezed, struggling to lift the window with all of her strength. "Come on, baby, we can do it! Hurry!"_

_After a moment, however, the Russian glanced over her shoulder and gasped, eyes widening in horror when she realized that the fire had slid through the sides of the entrance and the door itself had started smoking. Thinking quickly and intelligently, she grabbed a lamp off of one of her side tables and smashed the enormous window with it; then she threw it off to the side and leaned outside, waving her arms and screaming loudly._

_"HEEEEEEEELP!" Alex screeched, waving her chubby arms and catching the attention of several people down on the street; fingers instantly pointed up at her and several people down below started screaming in Russian. "HELP US! HELP! ME AND A LITTLE GIRL ARE TRAPPED UP HERE! WE'RE TRAPPED!"_

_Already, a crowd had been drawn to the building... but Alex abruptly stopped screaming and her face went whiter than a sheet when she realized that the entire foundation below them had already been set ablaze. Several floors were already burning: there was no way in hell that anybody would be able to get to them since the firetruck ladders couldn't reach the top floor. Alexandria slowly grabbed Saelind's arm and pulled her close to her chest, head flying around with a desperate expression that only a mother could have._

_Then her large brown eyes had widened and she'd jumped up, running over to her blanket closet. After pulling out the least-flammable thing she could find and running into the bathroom, Alex flipped on the shower nozzle and drenched the fabric as much as she possibly could: then she danced around the flames that had started licking up the walls of her home and grabbed Saelind's arm, dragging her into the bathtub and practically throwing her under the water._

_"EE! It's cold!" Saelind squealed, making Alex laugh in an almost maniacal way. "Auntie Alex, it's cold!"_

_"Good," the woman sobbed, quietly bursting into tears. "That's what we need so we don't get burned, okay?! We need to be very cold and wet!"_

_So to speak, she wrapped the dark-haired girl up in the wet blanket, jumped under the water herself, and held her tightly until the two of them were completely soaked to the bone; after that, she wrapped herself up as well and lifted Saelind into her strong arms, staring at the fire outside of her bathroom with terrified brown eyes. Then, those motherly eyes narrowed and she let out a terrified scream before charging into the fire._

_No... _a silent voice suddenly whispered, making the world around Saelind go fuzzy. _Not again... please..._

_Alex ran... and ran... and ran... through the searing heat, out into the hall, coughing hysterically and sprinting down the burning stairs at top speed... then down another hallway, around another corner... down another flight of stairs... burning her feet, peeling her skin... leaving behind charred pieces of bloody flesh on the burning floor. Saelind began coughing violently since the smoke was hurting her eyes and throat, and even Alex coughed and cried as she ran. She was carrying Saelind through the fires of hell itself._

_The flames were being reflected in Saelind's tropical blue eyes as she ran through them._

_She saw the fire licking the walls and ceiling, watched as it devoured the chipped paint they were passing. However, just as Alex turned to run into the stairwell leading down to the building's twentieth floor, the ceiling above them crumbled: the woman yelped when several heavy ceiling joists crashed down onto the floor in front them, blocking the path to the exit. A split second after the ceiling had collapsed, the edge of the wooden floor dropped nearly a foot underneath Alexandria's feet._

_The woman staggered backwards toward the edge of the opening chasm with a startled look on her face, clutching Saelind's body with both hands and struggling to catch her balance. However, when one end of the wooden floor dropped even further and the entire hallway tilted at a dangerous sixty degree angle, the woman purposely threw her just before she lost her balance. The little girl hit the ground and watched with horrified eyes as Alexandria stumbled backwards on the wood. However, just before she went over the edge, Saelind's heart skipped a beat and she leapt forward, grabbing the woman's hand with both of hers._

_No!_ the silent voice begged, sounding to be on the verge of tears; the world once again flickered, making Saelind's eyes glaze a little. _Not again! No! Please!_

_However, it was already too late: there was suddenly nothing underneath Alexandria's feet... and she fell, _hand being torn out of her own_._

_The woman's wide brown eyes had met Saelind's terrified teal ones just as she fell backwards and flipped off the edge. It had all happened so quickly, so abruptly and horribly... and yet, somehow... it also seemed as though it were happening in slow motion. Time itself had become a conundrum in its attempt to burn that moment into her memory just as the fire had burned her flesh. Saelind lunged and flailed to grab the woman's hand again._

_And she missed._

_The image of Alexandria's horrified brown eyes looking straight into her own was the last thing she saw before she vanished down into the burning darkness. However, the floor dropped out from underneath her not too long after she disappeared: Saelind's long black hair began to fan around her small body and she screamed in terror as the floor dropped away. The world abruptly began to fly past her as she floated off the burning carpet... but then, an explosion of stars rocketed into her skull because the floor she was hovering above finally smashed into the eighteenth floor._

_And not even two seconds after she hit it, three ceiling joists smashed into her back and pinned her to the ground._

_The worst part was that she was still conscious: she could see the horrible fire roaring towards her and was completely unable to move._

_No... _the silent voice whimpered.

_The heat engulfed her..._

_Please, no._

_Burned her._

_No!_

_Scarred her..._

_NOOOOOOOOO!_

_Sent her spiraling down into darkness... the darkness of eternal sleep._

_If it hadn't been for Alex, who slowly stumbled out of the inferno with a broken back and a decapitated right arm, Saelind would have died under that debris. However, the woman had freed her, dragged her down the rest of the stairs by her arms, and pulled her outside using the last of her life. She had dropped dead not even a split second after the girl was safe. The next time Saelind had awoken, she'd been in the hospital... and she'd overheard her parents in the hall._

_The same people who had angrily been discussing what to do about the situation._

_The same people who had argued that a burned child was less than useless to their family._

_The same people who had fought with each other over which foster home to take her to._

_That was the sorry truth: she wasn't a child anymore... she was a charity case._

_"No!" the silent voice wailed, making Saelind realize with horror that it was coming from her own mouth. "No! Help me!"_

_What seemed like mere moments later, although it very well could have been years, a white flash of light trickled out of the distance and began shining on her face._

_The shadowy hospital recoiled and dissolved in the face of this light._

_When a slender ribbon of luminescence descended from the distant sun, Saelind's eyes glazed over: she reverently took in the glowing shape that was slowly stretching out to her... the shape of two shaking hands... large brown eyes... eyes that were begging for something with frantic urgency. Then she realized that she was underwater... and before she could comprehend what she was actually looking at, the intruder to her eternal darkness snared her like a fishhook in the dark. The hands wound around her form and yanked her upward, sending the girl spiraling straight into a world full of light and warmth._

_Saelind thought she might have screamed, but she couldn't remember._

_Mostly because she'd finally blacked out._


	18. Chapter 17: The Declaration

**Author's**** Note: **Before you read this next chapter, I have an announcement to make. The girl this story was written about (Saelind) contacted me yesterday and told me, over the phone, that she loved it with all her heart and that I captured her personality to a T. However, she also asked me for a request since she's still struggling with some personal issues about being seen. For the first time in years, she told me that she'll try to come out of her shell depending on the reaction this idea gets from all of you.

And so, I would like to let you wonderful readers know that the REAL Saelind wants me to temporarily change the main story cover to a real-life photo of her. In all actuality, Saelind isn't the daughter of a duchess or anything so fanciful... nor did she even attend a private school like Ouran, or wear a school uniform of any variety, or even live in Japan. However, unlike a lot of OC characters I read about on Fanfiction... Saelind really exists in the world. And yes, she IS Russian: born and raised in Moscow before she transferred to a high school in the United States. However, she's someone I love dearly, so when you see the 'temporary' cover... please: be very, very, VERY gentle.

Anyway... enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: The Declaration  
**

_Black... it was all black... nothingness._

_No color._

_No light._

_No sound._

_Nothing but an endless darkness that stretched on endlessly beyond her closed eyelids. She felt so weak that she couldn't even open them... she could feel herself floating weightlessly in the frigidness of this icy void, could feel the fierce winds lifting her hair away from her back... and yet, she couldn't move. She felt so weak that her body was incapable of doing anything. She wanted to open her eyes... she wanted to see where she was, why everything was so windy... why she felt so weightless. But w__hen she finally managed to lift her eyelids, she realized with a dazed sense of horror that there was nothing but shadow in front of her._

_Alone._

_Where she had always been._

_Then... the darkness suddenly cracked like a pane of glass, making her blink rapidly._

_More cracks soon jolted down in front of her... almost seeming to form understandable words, even though they were nothing but jagged lines and odd fissures._

_Her heart thumped and her eyes slowly widened as an inexplicable horror built up inside her soul: she recognized these symbols... and not only that, she understood what they meant. These weren't cracks... it was Japanese Kanji... she had been taught to read it by someone that even now she held close to her heart. Even to this day... she remembered all of the teachings she'd inherited._

_From Alexandria._

_These symbols burned themselves into her eyes... but then, more of them began fraying the endless blackness in resting all around her, cracking it into pieces. She tried to close her eyes again when the symbols continued to shatter the darkness... but then, out of all the blinding words in front of her, one started glowing red and she felt her heart skip a beat. Her name... it was her own name! The words that had defined her from the moment she'd been born: dragon song._

_She couldn't let it become tainted!_

_Saelind started choking when her true name shifted from a hot bright red to a darker shade of crimson, almost seeming to sizzle with something vile._

_"Please..." Saelind whispered, slowly and weakly lifting her smooth and beautiful hand; like her name, it started burning... becoming scarred, distorted. "Someone... save me."_

_The moment she said it..._ _the darkness shattered and the world exploded with light._

_Saelind suddenly saw a vision herself running with an outstretched hand on top of an endless lake: she seemed to be running nowhere even though she was going at top speed... and she was also reaching for something with desperation on her face. Then her doppelganger started stumbling and finally lost her balance, long hair being blasted forward by something... but she never lowered her hand. Just before she fell, she reached for something, hair flying around her face and teal eye streaming tears.  
_

_There was an unexpected flash of light, similar to a lightning strike, and it erased the vision from view._

_When she was able to see again, she witnessed Haruhi standing in the middle of a blue void and being blown around by a fierce wind... a wind that seemed to be coming from every direction and was pelting her mercilessly. Her glossy hair was flying this way and that and her Ouran uniform was being jerked as if the wind had unseen hands. Tears were streaming from her eyes and being blown off her face as she stood there, locked in place by the wind, amber eyes facing two distant shadows and yearning for something that Saelind couldn't see._

_Then another flash swept the vision away... and she saw... shockingly enough... Honey._

_Honey was standing soaking wet amongst several white flowers and looking straight at her. His large brown eyes looked blank and cold with an unbearable amount of sadness. Saelind's weakness increased when she saw his mouth moving and a tear slid down his pale cheek... but then, behind him, Mori slowly faded into view and she saw him gently set a hand on the blonde's shoulders._

_Saelind strained to hear what the blonde was saying... but even though his mouth was still slowly moving, no sound reached her. In truth, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, Honey was genuinely the sweetest person she knew... he was always bright, always laughing, and even though she didn't particularly like him, she'd always avoided him during her encounters with the Host Club since she knew she couldn't snap at someone so pure. In a way, he reminded her of the person she used to be... and that's why she hadn't been able to turn her anger on him directly.  
_

_That one tear sliding out of his empty brown eyes nearly broke her.  
_

_He and Mori soon faded into white... and a voice met her ears.  
_

_"Saelind!" _someone shrieked in a muffled tone. _"Saelind, can you hear me?!"_

She knew that voice from somewhere... she knew it like the back of her hand, although she didn't understand why... it was so shrill...

_"Is_ _he gonna be okay_?!" a somewhat posh female voice asked, sounding extremely worried. _"Hey, is he all right?!"_

_"Don't worry, my dear!"_ another familiar voice stammered. _"H-he's breathing, so... he'll probably be fine! What we need to do is get him to the nurse, so... um..."_

_"Saelind!"_ the shrill voice shouted. _"Please! Wake up!_"

_"__Mitsukune__, calm down," _a deep voice muttered stoically._ "Saelind is tough: he'll be okay."_

_"Yeah," _two identical voices stated at the same time._ "But still, we need to get him to the infirmary and call a doctor... Haruhi, you need to let go of him."_

Saelind's entire body twitched when an angry screech filled the air.

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Haruhi shouted hysterically, bringing the girl's consciousness around. "Don't touch him! Get back!"

Saelind's eyes fluttered a little, but then she opened them a crack and very nearly winced when the orange sky blinded her. However, she was mildly confused when she saw everyone from the Host Club, members and guests alike, crowded around her. Even more confusing was the fact that a familiar brunette was straddling her upper torso with shaking limbs. Her soaked hair was obscuring her eyes and she was obviously shaken up, but what Saelind couldn't comprehend was why the girl was literally keeping everyone away from her.

"Haruhi, come on," Tamaki tried to reason, slowly leaning forward; he jumped away and clamped down on Kyouya when the girl slapped his hand away. "Eek!"

"Shut up!" Haruhi shouted, lifting her head and revealing that her eyes were full of terrified tears. "Just shut up! You're all a bunch of idiots! You didn't even notice he was in trouble! You could have helped, but you didn't! You were all staring at Ayanokoji's dumb bikini! You didn't even see him..."

"H-Haruhi..." Tamaki whispered, staring at her with a stunned expression when she broke down and started crying. "That's not true!"

"It IS true!" the girl roared, making everyone cower in the face of her wrath . "Senpai, even you... you didn't notice! You didn't see!"

"B-but Haru-chan!" Honey whined, staring at her with large eyes and a stunned expression. "We didn't know he'd gotten hurt! How could we have?!"

"That's my point!" Haruhi cried, clamping down on Saelind's skinny arms. "Nobody was watching Saelind! Nobody cared! So keep your hands off him!"

"Well, why?" the twins asked, looking at each other with extremely confused expressions.

"Because Saelind is my _friend!"_ Haruhi shouted, hugging the girl with shaking muscles; then she stilled and sniffed a bit. "No... he's not just a friend... Saelind is _family_! So,don't touch him! Keep your damn hands off him!_"_

When Haruhi burst into tears and everyone tried to calm her down, the black-haired girl felt something unpleasant stirring in her heart... guilt. In truth, she hadn't really liked Haruhi all that much since she was a part of the Host Club and she lived right next door. However, she also hadn't given the brunette a chance because she had everything that Saelind had always wanted. She hadn't known just how much the girl sitting on top of her really worried until that moment.

"Haruhi," Saelind finally wheezed, making the girl glance at her face with a startled expression; everyone instantly stepped away, since the dark-haired girl finally opened her eye a little more and turned her head to face the brunette. However, silence filled the air all around when her teal eye softened and her lips tilted upward into a small smile. "Stop crying like a girl and get off me please. I appreciate the sentiment... but... I think I'm okay now."

"S-S-S-S-S-Saelind!" the girl exclaimed, instantly gripping her shoulders and shaking her violently. "Are you okay?! Does it hurt anywhere?!"

"Ow, ow, ow," the girl coughed out, grimacing at the movement. "OW! Haruhi, cut it out! It only hurts where you're grabbing me, jeez!"

"Sorry," the brunette sniffed, jerking her arms back and plopping her hands down. "I'm sorry... but... are you really okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Saelind wheezed, struggling to breathe. "However, you're suffocating me... could you get off now?"

"Oh, um, yes!" Haruhi gasped, jumping off to the side and watching as Saelind slowly sat up and touched her throbbing nose. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" the dark-haired girl asked, touching her head and swaying back and forth. "Did I win?"

That question was met with several stares... but then, a lot of good-natured snickering arose that soon devolved into uproarious gales of laughter.

Saelind merely looked around in confusion, not comprehending why everyone was laughing: her eye was glazed over and she felt a little dazed, almost as though she'd been sleeping for a long time without knowing it. The last thing she could remember was Ami slapping her hand for the tag-team race... then there was nothing, a place where her memory simply cut off and started up with the sound of the voices around her.

"All that matters is that you're okay now," Haruhi stated a little more calmly, rubbing her eyes before glancing at the Host Club members. "Also... I'm sorry... for snapping at all of you like that. Can... can you forgive me?"

Tamaki covered his mouth when his cheeks turned red... then he leapt forward and lifted the girl into his arms, spinning her in circles.

"Of course, Haruhi!" the blonde squealed, smothering her face against his bare chest. "Daddy will always forgive you! You're so passionate about your friends!"

"Senpai, stop!" the brunette squealed, kicking her legs; then Tamaki stepped on open air, and the two of them blinked only a split second before they fell into the pool with identical squeals of surprise. "ACk! Why?! I just got out of this thing!"

"Saelind," a voice suddenly whispered, making the dark-haired girl slowly turn her head; she blinked when she saw Ami sitting next to her with an extremely worried expression on her face. "Are you really okay? I was so scared... we thought you... that you had..."

The girl covered her mouth and turned her face away, not able to finish the sentence: her eyebrows were shivering and she looked distraught.

"Do I look dead to you?" Saelind grumpily inquired, quirking an eyebrow when the girl jumped and glanced at her again. "Look, I'm fine... I don't even remember what happened, so there's nothing to be worried about. I'm alive, everyone is calming down, so there's no harm done at all. Plus, the competition is over, and everyone is leaving to go get their things... I think I should do the same since my boobs feel squashed."

"Oh," Ami droned, worried expression vanishing in an instant. "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

With that, she stood up and walked away, heading for the locker rooms without even glancing back. However, it was also around that moment that Honey noticed Haruhi glaring daggers at the bikini-wearing brunette: he instantly blinked before glancing at Saelind, who was currently tilting her head and tapping the side of it to get water out of her ear. She still hadn't made a single attempt to stand up, which made the blonde boy feel confused.

Haruhi noticed the same thing and walked over to her.

"Do you need help getting up?" she hesitantly asked, holding out a hand; Saelind slowly turned and stared at it. "I know you don't like touching people, but still..."

Startling her profoundly, Saelind slowly extended her own hand without a word and allowed the brunette to help her up.

Then, the Russian girl headed in the direction of the locker room, wrapping a towel around herself as she went.

However, just before she disappeared into the building, she halted.

"Did you mean it?" she called in a low tone, making Haruhi blinked and cock her head. "What you said earlier?"

"What... do you mean?" Haruhi inquired, quirking an eyebrow when the shorter girl turned to look at her. "I meant everything I said."

"I see," Saelind mumbled, looking down at the concrete. "Family, huh?"

Without another word, she walked into the locker rooms and left behind a confused brunette who had no idea what to think.

"I'm glad Sael-chan is okay," Honey mumbled, shuffling his feet before he glanced up at Mori. "That was really scary, but if you hadn't jumped in..."

"It was nothing," Mori deadpanned, slowly turning around and walking away. "I only got her out of the water. Haruhi did the rest."

When he was gone, Honey slowly lowered his eyes and seemed to deflate, smile gone within seconds.

"But if you hadn't jumped in," he finished in a small tone of voice, staring at the ground, "I would have."

With a sigh, Honey shrugged his shoulders and let the floaty tube drop to his ankles. Even though he was the cutest male in the Host Club, he was also the most forgettable. And that's exactly why he tried so hard to STAY cute: nobody would know he was there if he didn't. Even now, nobody noticed his unhappy expression. Still, after a moment the optimism bounced back and he happily headed for the locker rooms.


	19. Chapter 18: Unexpected Playdate

**Chapter Eighteen: Unexpected Playdate**

A hooded figure sat in the middle of a dark and dreary room.

All around him were dimly lit candles, wooden cat statues, and many carving materials that lay scattered all over in various places.

There wasn't a single window in this room... not an ounce of natural light broke through the impending darkness. The hooded figure, however, didn't seem bothered at all by this: in fact, at the moment, he was chuckling softly as he carved out his most beautiful creation yet. The most realistic carving he'd ever made was resting under his pale fingers.

"Oh, Beelzenef," he dreamily sighed, lifting the realistic cat carving up and looking at it from within his hood. "You're such a good kitty. I know you'd never curse anyone, but those morons next door just don't know how to be quiet."

It was true: since he was living in the school's darkest and most cut-off place, he had no other choice but to listen to the obscenely grotesque displays going on just outside his door. It was true that he had a profound interest in the paranormal, and he'd even created his little one-man Black Magic club in an effort to boost his school points up a notch, but in truth... he simply liked cats.

More specifically, one cat: a beautiful Siamese named Beelzenef, who was really nothing more than a kitten with the biggest, brightest blue-green eyes he'd ever seen.

Most people didn't understand his obsession for something as beautiful as that one little kitty: they found it weird that he'd created a Beelzenef puppet so he wouldn't feel lonely without his loveable feline. Even the Host Club was dense about it: a few months ago, he'd overheard a fight going on between the incestuous twins and pressed his ear against the door to listen, since the two of them going at it like cats in heat was an extremely rare occurrence. It had never happened before or after, so it had caught his interest.

But then, his door had slid open because of his mistake, and one of his carvings had rolled away from him and straight into Suoh Tamaki's heel. And he, ever the blonde, had immediately jumped to conclusions and made up some extremely weird stories to justify how creepy he, the one and only Umehito Nekozawa, really was. So, Nekozawa had done what any pissed young man would do: he'd intentionally used Tamaki's fears against him and acted as creepy as he could.

Later, however, he'd been forced to reveal a side of himself that he hadn't wanted anybody to see by going to those same people for help.

After all, his sister was worth more than his pride, and he wanted nothing more than to take care of her.

Unfortunately, he'd been reluctant to seek any help whatsoever from the Host Club.

Especially since they had a very weird way of doing whatever they wanted without reaping any sort of negative consequences.

"Aha!" Nekozawa exclaimed, dusting off some remaining wood shavings and holding the gleaming cat statue up with a crooked smile. "You're finally finished!"

With that, he glided to his feet and swept over to the nearest shelf, where twelve other carvings ranging from amateur craftsman ship to a progressively more realistic style were stacked up in a row: they were the stages of his progression in carving, mere pieces of work that he could look at later on to see how far he'd taken his hobby since he;d first started it. However, once he'd set the cat on the shelf, he stepped on one of his scattered books and bent over to pick it up.

He paused after reading the title.

"Tales of the Occult," he chuckled weakly, lifting a hand and scratching at the black wig he was wearing. "I need to return this to the school's fifth library."

Which, truthfully, was something he was dreading since people would shy away from him and high-tail it in the opposite direction once they saw him.

Yes, people thought he was creepy because of his clothing selection, but it wasn't as though he had a choice in the matter. Almost everyone aside from his little sister thought he had Photophobia... even the maids and servants employed to his family. After all, the truth about his illness was locked away in a medical file, so it wasn't all that surprising that people rolled their eyes at his need for darkness. However, in truth, Nekozawa didn't hate sunlight at all... in fact, he loved it just as much as his little sister did. It was so bright, and beautiful, that he longed to be a part of it.

Even more so because his little sister was always walking alone in that light.

And yet, as fate would have it, he couldn't even be near fluorescent lightbulbs, let alone the sun.

And the reason?

One word: Porphyria

To those of you who don't know what that is, Porphyria is a genetic disorder similar to albinism, only fundamentally different since the genes affected have nothing to do with pigmentation. In short, Nekozawa was deathly allergic to sunlight.

Without his constant medicine doses, sunlight could legitimately kill him if he stayed outside for more than an hour without his cloak or some form of protective clothing. Even with the medicine, in fact, he was at risk since ultraviolet radiation could literally paralyze his nerves, make him black out, and burn him badly while he was unconscious.

He had often been compared to a vampire because of his illness, especially since nobody really knew the true reason behind his desire for darkness... and when you coupled his unnaturally pale skin and platinum blonde hair with his natural aversion to sunlight, the idea that he was similar to a mythological blood sucker wasn't exactly that far off. Throw in the fact that he'd developed a weird taste for the things he'd always been compared to and you'd have a pretty good idea about what the young man was like.

Creepy.

Still, he was content to be himself since he couldn't change anything, and since he really didn't care what other people thought... well, he had nothing to worry about. After a moment, Nekozawa shook himself clear of all of his hesitance and took a deep breath, making sure his hood was shielding his eyes before slowly walking over to the doors to the music room. His biggest problem would be getting past the Host Club without them noticing. They'd no doubt act like women running from a mouse if they spotted him: they'd done so several times before.

Granted, he HAD intentionally tried to scare the shit out of Suoh a few times... so he didn't blame them.

He'd overheard a few days ago that they'd just finished throwing a pool party, and now the new plan was a surprise matchmaking scheme that people of all genders were allowed to join. Those types of get-togethers were the worst, and usually, he never left his room since most of the guests visiting the Host Club found him to be exceedingly creepy.

"Well, Beelzenef," Nekozawa chuckled, wiggling his little cat puppet with a soft expression. "Should we get going and try to avoid being seen?"

The puppet cat nodded and clapped its little paws.

"Okay then!" he sighed, muscles locking into a rigid posture. "Here we gooooooo..."

Once he opened the doors, however, he spotted the entire Host Club in disarray: everyone was planning for some random thing while trying to entertain multiple ladies at once, and after a moment, Nekozawa started sweating. However, just as he was about to start moving, a flash of something extremely glossy and dark caught his attention. When he turned, a startled expression flitted across his half-hidden features.

That eye... that familiar blue-green tint... he would know that color anywhere.

His mouth widened even further and he stood still, shocked to his core: he was looking straight at someone familiar to him... and yet, also _unfamiliar..._ but who...?

"Beelzenef?" Nekozawa whispered, shivering a little before reason flooded his mind; it wasn't possible... she was human, not a cat. "Odd... they have the same eyes."

However, just as he said it, the dark-haired beauty turned away from the plump brunette she was talking to in order to glance at Haruhi.

Then she turned her head and stared directly at him, and he stiffened like a wooden board since her scars had been revealed. When that large teal focused on him, it almost seemed to pierce his heart because of how cold it was... he understood why, too. He could see every inch of her puckered flesh because her hair had been pulled out of the way... but even more shocking than that was her left eye. It was the same beautiful shade of aquamarine as the right, but the pupil was dilated and milky grey: blind.

Nekozawa slowly lifted a hand to his mouth and stared at her, not knowing how to react.

It wasn't the first time the Host Club had recruited a girl and put her in men's clothing, and since he had an odd knack for spotting women immediately, he had been able to tell the first time he'd seen Haruhi that they were up to no good... but to think they'd go as far as recruiting someone like _this_ girl was inconceivable. Especially since Tamaki was a beauty fanatic: he literally had such a one-track mind that it was rather shocking.

After a moment, the girl's blue-green eye slowly blinked and her gaze slid towards the floor in an almost ashamed manner.

The Hitachiin brothers immediately noticed her stiff posture and glanced at him from their spot at a nearby table: the moment they grinned at each other, however, Nekozawa brought his mind back to the present and swept towards the doors leading into the hall. He had a prickling feeling in his gut about the smiles he'd just seen: he smiles that told him some trouble was headed his way.

He soon forgot about it, though, and merely returned the book to the library before heading to the cafeteria and grabbing a snack.

However, on his way back to his room, several weird conversations met his ears.

"Oh, Kami-sama! Have you heard?"

"The draw? I know! Do you think my name will be pulled out?"

"As if! I'm going to be the one! This is my opportunity!"

"Yeah, right! Like that would ever happen."

Nekozawa walked past several gossiping girls and effeminate males with his head down and his eyes hidden, shoulders hunched as he wondered what the whole school was buzzing about. However, when he turned around a corner, he spotted another unusual thing: Renge was walking down the hallway and shoving bright pink papers into people's faces, and to his horror, she immediately smirked and swept towards him the moment she laid eyes on him.

Nekozawa recoiled when the Asian girl waved a paper into his own face.

"This is your opportunity, Shady-san!" the girl obnoxiously shouted, grinning down at him with devilish brown eyes. Nekozawa shakily took the paper so the artificial blonde would stop waving it around his face and slowly examined the words in an unfeeling sort of way.

_The Ouran Host Club_  
_You've all HEARD their names._  
_You've all SEEN them._  
_So why not have the opportunity to DATE them?_  
_Just put your name down in the form below_  
_And hand it in to Renge._  
_We're having a draw and eight lucky girls (or guys)_  
_Will have a date with one of the HC members!_

Nekozawa blinked, then cocked an eyebrow and read it again, feeling rather surprised. He had never known that Renge could string that many sentences together, let alone write out an advertisement for landing a date with one of the Host Club members. The shadowed boy shuddered and threw the paper into the closest trash bin after Renge stomped off: all around him, girls were shrieking and hastily filling out their forms with whatever they could find… including eyeliner pencils and lipstick that looked way too thick.

_Gross, _Nekozawa thought with a silent chuckle, staring at the girls with lowered blue eyes. _Someone should tell them that they're allowed to bring pens to school._

Still, he had to admit that the Host Club was quite a popular group... because the very next day, guys and girls alike were crowded around all of them, talking about the draw that was supposed to be happening at lunch. However, he couldn't stop a case of the cold prickles when he passed the twins in the hallway that very morning: they'd both grinned at him the way a hunter would catch sight of its prey.

He wasn't used to being looked at in general, so it was disturbing to see the twins staring at him like that.

_I'm not going to hang around the cafeteria at lunch time,_ Nekozawa thought to himself.

Later on, he had to wriggle his way through several crowds of girls and guys just so he could reach the food line.

Tamaki, Haruhi, Mori, Honey, Kyouya, the twins, and shockingly enough, the unknown member were standing in front of a podium in the center of the luxurious dining hall. There were a few people at the cafeteria line, but most had turned to stare at Tamaki and the Host Club. Nekozawa quickly started loading a little bit of onto his tray, ignoring the cool and collected voice of Kyouya as he started talking to the whole cafeteria. Nekozawa was caught between the decision of apple cider or the hot chocolate when he heard a loud applause erupting garishly behind him.

Several names had apparently been called, and only one name was left: one last chance to get a date with a host club member.

Turning slightly and peering out of his hood, the boy saw that Tamaki had taken a large pink hat from the twins; slowly turning his face away, Nekozawa turned back to the food and shifted from foot to foot as he wondered what drink he should get. There was an abrupt silence behind him and he heard every girl hold their breath. Finally deciding on grape juice, he grabbed the container and set it on his tray with the rest of his lunch.

The youth distantly wondered why it was taking so long to draw the name as he made his way out of the dining hall, then about why there were so many people crowded in there in the first place. He could hardly make his way through the crowd and kept having to mutter 'sorry' and 'excuse me' every time he pushed past someone, which made him feel very uncomfortable and awkward.

"Umehito Nekozawa!" a set of triumphant voices called from behind.

_Good for her… having a date with a host club member must have made that girl's afternoon…_Nekozawa muttered; then his blue eyes went wide and his shoulders hunched up in alarm as she froze mid-step. _Hang on, what?_

Half the crowd flinched as well when they heard his name being called out.

Several people were all staring at the twins as if waiting for them to call for a redraw.

Nobody expected them to let someone like Nekozawa to date one of their own members, Nekozawa the least of all.

The hooded boy still had his back turned, frozen in position. The whispers around him caused the boy to start moving again, though, large feet propelling his body as quickly as possible toward the cafeteria doors. There was no way that he was going on a date with another male: for one thing, he wasn't gay, and for another... he had no doubt that dates entitled brightly-lit places.

"Come on, Nekozawa-senpai!" the twins called, seeming to spot the boy through the crowd; their voices were bright and cheerful. "Hurry up!"

There were people on all sides waiting for him to turn around, blocking his path to freedom and making him shiver. With slow movements, the boy shrank into his hood and turned around before walking to the table: the girls and boys before him parted as if he were a disease. When Nekozawa was finally at the table and standing in front of the Host Club, the blonde looked up with nervous eyes.

"I didn't put my name down," he stated anxiously, looking around at the group of scammers. "I... I threw the paper in the trash. Could you please do a redraw?"

The twins didn't seem swayed by Nekozawa's statement; however, after a moment, Renge stepped forward waved the pink slip of paper before him.

"That's not possible," she snootily explained. "This is your handwriting, isn't it?"

Nekozawa carefully took the pink slip out of her long fingers and looked over the form.

"No, not even close," the boy uneasily explained. "I write in Kanji, and I'm left-handed."

"Well, this is an odd development," Kyouya stated simply, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I never would have thought someone would turn down Saelind... this is almost inhumanely cruel."

The boy's eyes flicked to the right and he glanced at the dark-haired girl standing beside him: her skinny arms were folded and she looked extremely pissed.

"What about you, Sael-chan?" Honey giggled, swinging his bunny around. "What do you think?"

"I'm trying not to think, honestly," the girl stated coldly; then she glanced at the boy. "This isn't an official date since... we're both guys. Let's just think of it as an outing between friends and move on with our lives."

With that, she turned around and swept out of the cafeteria, leaving behind several people who returned to their lunches.

"Beelzenef?" Nekozawa whimpered, looking at his puppet cat. "Do you think I'm going to die tomorrow?"

The cat responded by nodding twice and clapping its hands.

Which promptly sent the hooded boy running for the doors, screaming his head of in a severe fit of hysteria.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Some of you were asking how Saelind got burned. My response is to go read the chapter with the fire scene, because that's basically how it happened. Also, more of you were asking if Saelind actually has fangs because of her messed up genetics... and the answer is yes, she really does have fangs and her DNA was fucked up because of a mistake her parents made concerning snake and wolf dna. The first time I ever saw her smile, I nearly shit myself because of how LONG her teeth are. No joke. Also, one more thing: Saelind HAS howled on a few camping trips over the years, and frighteningly enough, wild wolves sometimes howl back for a while.

Don't ask me why, or even how she does it, but the real Saelind is far more unique than anyone I've ever met.

Especially since she's an itty bitty, fun-sized little thing. So cute and tiny! :3

(Love ya, Sae! And just in case you're reading this, DON'T KILL ME for the tiny comment!)


	20. Chapter 19: Wicked Scheme

**Author's note:** Saelind told me about a week ago that she loves all of your comments. Apparently, she thinks ButterTARDIS has the most amusing username she's ever seen, she laughed her ass off at Caring16's review, and Elfen Children... WHY?! She glomped me and tackled me clean onto the ground thanks to that Review of yours! Bleeeeh! (Sticks tongue out) :P However, she's told me that she might even leave a review herself one of these days. Doubt it, since she has no account, but I think it'd be interesting if she did.

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: A Wicked Scheme**

Saelind was pissed.

Beyond pissed.

So pissed that she wanted to strangle someone.

Her face was so red that steam should have been shooting out of her ears. Kyouya was standing directly in front of her, scribbling something down in his secret file and completely ignoring the fact that she was glaring daggers into his face. The Host Club members were standing quite a bit out of the way since they hadn't wanted to set off her temper: normally, they wouldn't have hesitated to go near her, but she was positively livid. Even compared to how she normally acted, this rage was on a completely different level.

"Was this really necessary?" the Russian girl carefully demanded, trying to keep her voice even despite her twitching eyelid; she pressed her lips together when Kyouya's eyes flicked up and landed on her face for a moment. "Honest to God, what makes you think I'd ever go out on a blind date?!."

"I apologize for not informing you of your participation in the event," the boy sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "However, aren't you going overboard?"

"No! Actually, this is a NORMAL reaction that any REGULAR person SHOULD have!" Saelind hissed, glaring at Kyouya with a frigid teal eye. "Why would you do this to me?! Do you enjoy pissing me off or something?! You never said a single word about the dating thing until the names were already being called out, you jerk! How the hell could you possibly think that I, of all the people in this school, would want to go on a random date with a stranger?!"

"When you put it like that, you make me sound like a villain," Kyouya chuckled, glancing up with no expression whatsoever. "Personally, I didn't really think there would be this much opposition from you, especially since almost every girl in the room was vying for either you, Mori-sempai, or Tamaki. Isn't it a good thing that you're so popular among the ladies?"

"EXCUSE ME?!" the girl screeched, throwing her arms in the air and making the other Hosts cower down like children. "NO! IT'S NOT! WHY HAVEN'T YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD THAT I DON'T **LIKE** DRAWING ATTENTION TO MYSELF?! POPULARITY ISN'T A GOOD THING FOR ME!"

"But Saelind, think of the guests!" Tamaki whimpered, hiding behind Kyouya when her hair practically began to rise out of fury. "It's our job as Hosts to entertain!"

For a long moment, the girl's face slowly turned bright red and her muscles started shaking.

And then, regardless, she finally lost her temper.

"I'm done with you people," Saelind spat, lowering her head and hiding her eyes with her hair; everyone stared at her in horror when she jerked at her tie and ripped it off of her uniform, and Takashi covered Honey's eyes when she ripped the front of her blazer right down the middle and threw it off to the side. "I'm not your toy. I'm not your dog. And I never wanted to be a part of this. You people are crazy: not only have you turned me into a liar, you've also put me on display like a zoo animal. This club of yours is awful, and I don't want to take any part of it. If you want to entertain people, join the God damn circus: I'm sure they'd love to have whackos like you!"

"B-but, what about your debt?!" Haruhi stammered, rushing over stepping in front of her with horrified brown eyes. "Saelind, don't! This isn't right!"

"A debt is something meant to be payed off, Haruhi!" the black-haired girl roared, making her jerk back with enormous eyes. _"You_ couldn't afford to pay for your mistake, and that's why you were blackmailed into doing work for these nutcases. I, however, have enough money to buy this whole god damn school, and if I really wanted to, nobody would be able to stop me since my family is powerful on TOP of filthy rich. So, to hell with working for it! I hate everything about this club, so I'm not gonna stick around!"

"Y-you hate the Host Club?!" Tamaki squeaked, looking as though his heart were going to break. "Why?!"

Saelind slowly turned and stared at him, teal eye practically igniting and making him huddle down.

"Because a man who carelessly toys with the hearts of multiple women at once when he already has his sights set on someone else," the black-haired girl stated in a very low tone, making the blonde stare at her in confusion, "is not someone I could ever say that I respect. A woman's heart is an ocean of secrets, Suoh Tamaki: you cannot break the ocean. You can only create a storm, which turns it cold and dangerous towards those who are closest to it."

With that, she stomped towards the doors with her long hair flying.

Everyone was in shock: the twins were staring with open mouths, Honey was about to cry, Haruhi looked as though she'd gone into a daze, Takashi was flailing his arms and making a deep choking sound, and Tamaki was once again crumbling into dust. Kyouya, however, slowly flicked his eyes up and pushed his glasses up his nose since the only reason they hadn't caught Saelind's interest was a motivational goal.

Haruhi's had been extremely simple, since she'd merely wanted to try some high-class Sushi and professionally cooked fish.

However, after doing a bit of research, he had discovered Saelind's weakness... and if he played his cards right, he would win her over completely.

So, after snapping his notebook shut, he cleared his throat and said the one thing that could make her halt.

"Oh?" he slyly inquired, smirking when the girl stretched her hand out to put it on the doorknob. "So you don't care that we could have the school fund a surgery that could get rid of your scars and make you beautiful again?"

Saelind's entire body froze and she locked up with her foot in the air and her fingers an inch from the door handle.

Everyone immediately stared at Kyouya in confusion, since they knew just as well as he did that such an endeavor would be extraordinarily expensive.

However, to their immense surprise, Saelind slowly put her foot down and took a deep breath.

"What the hell are you saying?" the girl demanded, not turning around. "Why the hell should I listen to something like that? You people would never do that for me, especially considering the treatment is something... that even my own family found too expensive."

"Ah, yes, well," Kyouya murmured, grinning in a triumphant manner, "since the situation demanded attention, I hired a private investigator to figure out why the daughter of a Duchess, of all people, would have refused to undergo treatment to hide or, at the very least, _lessen,_ such terrible scars. It's actually quite inexpensive considering how much wealth your family has, and that is exactly why I was puzzled. Look at the signs: you're the daughter of a Duchess, yet you live in a rundown Japanese apartment... you don't have furniture, or even enough pocket money to afford a normal uniform."

"Yeah, why _do_ you live there?" Kaoru asked, staring at the girl as though she'd grown another head. "I gotta admit..."

"...those are some weird contradictions," Hikaru finished, giving his brother a stare before they shrugged at the same time. "Really weird, actually."

"I see..." Tamaki whispered, eyes widening when he recalled what Saelind had told the girls on her first day as a Host. "Your parents don't accept you... and because of that, they've put distance between you! You've been cast out!"

"Wrong: I left on my own," Saelind muttered, slowly turning around and lifting her head; everyone, even Kyouya, halted when they saw angry tears streaming from the girl's right eye. "So what if I don't want to rely on a woman who was never there for me in the first place? Even if I did want to, it wouldn't change anything: back before the fire, she and the rest of my household ignored me. So much, in fact, that there were times when I couldn't even tell if I was really alive. I couldn't tell if I was real: it was frightening. And when I got burned, being ignored was even worse. Nobody cared: not family, not friends, not anyone... I was alone. So, what makes you think I would ever believe such a horrible lie?!"

"What do you mean, Sael-chan?!" Honey hesitantly asked, stepping forward and looking at her in confusion. "What lie?"

"The surgery, dumbass!" Saelind snapped, making him flinch. "Why the hell would I trust a bunch of idiots who do nothing but flirt with girls all afternoon to do something that costly for my sake?! You people don't truly care what happens to me, either, so there's no reason for it!"

Before she could say another word, Haruhi's lip curled and she stomped over to the black-haired girl: then, drawing her fist back, she slapped the right side of her face so hard that it left a welt. Saelind's eye widened when the sting rushed through her, and for a long moment, she stared off into space. This was the second time she'd blown up at someone... and once again, Haruhi had slapped her.

"We don't truly care?" she demanded in an angry tone, slowly lifting her eyes and staring at the Russian girl's stunned expression. "Saelind, everyone here is doing this because we're trying to show you that the world isn't as cruel as you think. The people standing in this room are not as shallow they seem: we all have histories that hurt us in some way. You haven't noticed it, though, because it's not burned onto our bodies the way it was with you: can't you see that none of us are truly perfect?"

"What the hell are you saying?" Saelind demanded, glaring at the girl even as several more tears welled up in her eye. "You've been trying to show me that the world isn't as cruel as I think? Don't make me laugh: with each and every day that's passed, you've done nothing but open up old wounds that hurt me in some way or another. Being imperfect is one thing. Being emotionally scarred is another. But when you're scarred like I am, trying to make me look at things I'll never have is the cruelest thing you can possibly do."

"That may be true," Kyouya intervened, smile gone as he stared at her. "However, I don't make false statements: I'm serious about sponsoring the surgery that can give you your old appearance back. It'll be costly, and you will have to work hard for this club to pay us back for it, but we can and will do this for you if you stay. All you have to do is say you're willing. If you want to go, I won't stop you."

Saelind slowly turned to stare at him through several tendrils of her silken hair.

When Honey unexpectedly dropped his rabbit, Takashi blinked and glanced down at him in surprise: it was the first time in years that Usa-chan had ever hit the floor like that. The blonde boy's eyes were large and he was staring at the girl as though he'd been winded. After a moment, the giant slowly followed his cousin's gaze... but when he caught the look on their newest member's face, he felt an unbearable pressure smash into his gut and he almost choked out loud. He stared at her in a similar manner, mouth hanging open.

The girl was looking at Kyouya as though he were a lion that was about to eat her.

Her eye was so large and frightened that it made her seem fragile... but at the same time, there was also a glimmer of something faint.

Hope? Yearning? Excitement? Terror?

It could have been any of those, or none at all.

"Really?" she whispered, hesitantly turning around and staring at him as though he'd bite her head off. "You're not just... saying that? You... if I actually stay in the Host Club, you and the others... would fund the surgery that..."

She trailed off, mouth trembling and muscles starting to shake.

"Of course he would!" Tamaki laughed, bouncing back to his old self and spinning around in a graceful manner. "Kyouya never lies when it comes to a business arrangement, so if he says he'll do something, you can count on him!"

"So, will you stay with us?" Haruhi asked, holding out her hand with a pleading expression. "I can't speak for the others since I'm not them, but I want to be your friend, Saelind."

The girl looked at the girl's hand before she closed her eyes and let out a defeated huff of air, mouth twisting in dismay.

"You people are crazy," she muttered, slowly stepping forward and ignoring the offered hand. "If... that's how you really feel, I'll... I'll stay."

The Host Club instantly let out a cheer, not even realizing that a certain hooded figure was staring at the scene from a crack in his door.

"Yay!" Honey squealed, jumping up in the air before he blinked and grabbed Usa-chan off the ground with a gasp. "I'm sorry Usa-chan! I didn't mean to!"

"Does this mean you're going to be friends with us," the twins simultaneously inquired, smirking at her with mischievous eyes as the walked over and started circling her like vultures. "Saelind, we wanna know if we're friends now!"

The girl narrowed her eyes and her mouth curled.

"No," the girl stated flatly, making them halt and blink at her with expressions of mock hurt. "Ugh, stop with the 'oh, poor me, let's gain sympathy' act! Seriously, you two have to _earn_ things like friendship, especially considering the fact that _still_ I don't trust people very easily. Just because I'm staying in the Host Club doesn't mean I'm going to kiss up to you idiots. God, I'd commit suicide before I ever caught myself doing that. No joke."

"Regardless," Haruhi murmured, letting out a sigh before she smiled. "I'm glad you decided to stay."

Over in the corner, however, Ami was watching the entire scene with a bright glare being reflected off of her glasses.

She was smiling, but nobody could see how irritated she looked as a result of the lighting.

"Yes, well, I hope you're ready to hear what I have to say," Kyouya stated, making everyone glance at him in curiosity: he was frowning at his phone with a very puzzled manner, but after a moment, a small smirk slid across his lips. "According to what I'm reading, the full-body surgery is an extremely long process and even more expensive than I thought. If you decide to stay with us, the amount of girls you'd need to sit with you to make up for the debt would be five thousand more than Haruhi. After all, this surgery costs three million Dollors in American terms. In yen... well, it's quite a lot."

Saelind closed her eyes, silently telling herself that this was an opportunity she might never have again.

"If you can really get rid of these scars," she stated softly, opening her looking up at him with a sharp smile that made everyone's eyes widen. "I'd be willing to stay in the Host Club no matter how long it took to fill the debt. Even if it took until graduation day."

"Well, that's certainly a big claim," Kyouya chuckled, smirk widening even further. "Speaking of which... do you have a dress for your date tomorrow?"

"A... dress?" the Russian girl slowly asked, mind going blank. "Uh, hell no: I left all of my old clothes back home for a reason. But if I'm pretending to be a guy, why the hell would I need one?"

"Nekozawa-senpai has a very odd knack for distinguishing males and females at a first glance," Haruhi hesitantly explained, making everyone aside from Kyouya turn to stare at her with large eyes. "He didn't say anything, but I could tell the first time we ever spoke to each other that he knew I was a girl."

"How, Haru-chan?!" Honey asked, running up to her with large eyes. "How do you know he figured it out?!"

"He referred to me using female honorifics,*" she explained, giving a little shrug. "Most people call me Fujioka-kun. He called me Fujioka-chan."

"Yeah, that is strange," Hikaru muttered, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression. "What do you think, Boss?"

"I don't know what to think," Tamaki stated, pressing a hand against his forehead. "Mommy, Dear, why didn't you tell me of this!"

"Because I didn't think it was necessary, _Daddy," _the boy retorted, speaking without looking up; however, a faint smile touched his lips despite the sarcasm lacing his tone, and he seemed mildly amused by the blonde's weird way of addressing him. "However, since he most likely knows that Saelind is a girl, it won't matter if she wears a dress. So, I've already gone over what we have in storage and picked one out. Oh, and I'll have to add one hundred days to pay for the repairs to your blazer."

"Fine, whatever, but do I really have to do this date thing?" the girl muttered, shaking her head in dismay. "Why do I have to date someone I don't even know?! Even if it's for a day only, it's still weird, and I highly doubt this kind of thing is appropriate. And by the way? If that dress you picked out has frills or even lace, I swear to God I will streak through the school and get myself expelled before I put it on."

"Mind if we take pictures?" the twins simultaneously asked, pulling two cameras out of nowhere. "It would be awesome!"

Saelind didn't dignify that with a response... but by the time she walked away with her head held high, two redheads were twitching on the ground with identical hand-shaped welts on their faces and everyone was laughing.

Over in the corner, however, there was someone who didn't even smile.


	21. Chapter 20: Night Out

**Chapter Twenty: Night Out**

Something wasn't right.

Something definitely wasn't right. It wasn't like Saelind to feel paranoid, but something seriously wrong was going on behind her back: she just knew it.

After all, all day long, she'd been given sneaky grins, snickers, and mischievous expression from the twins.

And she'd EVEN caught a few giggles coming from Haruhi.

Which weird in all forms of the word.

_What the heck is going on with them?_ she silently wondered, eyelid twitching in fury. _I might have agreed to stay, but I never said I'd put up with things like their arrogant little snickers. I mean, damn, it's only been a day and they're already acting like someone's about to prank me._

The attention had persisted from the early morning all the way into the afternoon, which made the girl feel even more pissed off than normal. She hated attention, and the fact that they were purposely making her aware that she was getting it made her want to snarl like a teething puppy. However, every time she tried to open her mouth and snap at them, she remembered Kyouya's promise and locked her jaw shut in misery. She wasn't allowed to be mean to the Host Club anymore.

Which, in itself, was actually an agony that she hated with a passion: just because she was part of them didn't mean she'd come to like them.

In fact, even though Kyouya had bribed her into staying, the girl hated him most of all for using her biggest weakness against her.

However, after enduring an entire school day of mischievous whispers and hushed giggles, the black-haired girl approached the twins after class was done.

And glared at them. Fiercely.

"And what, may I presume, are Wannabe Weasley twins up to?" she demanded with a twitching eyelid, ignoring how they guffawed at the comparison she'd used for the infamous movie twins. "Mind explaining what all the annoying whispers and snickers were about?!"

"Oh, no..." Haruhi sighed, covering her face with a small groan. "You just had to bring _that_ comparison up, didn't you?"

"What comparison?" Hikaru instantly snorted, waggling his eyebrows. "There really isn't one, since we're way cuter than the Phelps brothers, hands down."

"Plus, Hikaru and I are natural redheads because our mother was Gaelic," Kaoru sneakily added, lacing his arm through his twin's and making Saelind roll her eyes. "We already have everything that they were supposed to have in the movies, but the difference with _us_ is that _we've_ never _pretended."_

"Hey, guess what? I really don't care one way or the other!" Saelind growled, face turning red with frustration. "I mean, damn, out of everything I just said to you morons, _that's_ the part you latch onto? God, you two are more self-centered than I thought."

"Hey, be nice!" Kaoru pouted, giving her an expression similar to his brother's. "If you don't, we'll tattle on you."

"Besides, if you're asking about what we were whispering about, don't worry," Hikaru drawled, giving her a devious smile. "You'll find out in..."

"... five... four... three... two..." Kaoru finished, checking his watch. "One."

Saelind jumped into the air with a squawk of alarm when the classroom door unexpectedly flew open wide.

"Saaaaaaaeeeell-chaaannn!" Honey happily screamed, making the girl screech in surreal terror: soon he was crashing through the entrance and barreling towards her like a wildebeest on steroids, which made the tiny girl stumble backwards and land on her butt with a thud. "It's tiiiiiiiiiime!"

After the first initial startle, Saelind caught herself and stood up: she then let her visible teal eye lock on his childish face, silently questioning his sanity.

"Excuse me for asking, but what the hell is _so_ important that you had to barge in here screaming?" the dark-haired girl seethed, clenching her fists and averting her eye in embarrassment; it was the first time in a long time that somebody had been able to startle her that badly, and because of her reaction, the visible half of her face had turned bright pink with an embarrassed flush. "That's rude to the teacher and everyone else here."

"But class is over, and no one else _is_ here, right?" Honey innocently asked, blinking and looking around in confusion; then he perked up and jumped up and down, squeezing his bag with glee. "I almost forgot! Sael-chan, you need to come get dressed! There's still lots to do before sunset!"

"Sunset?!" Saelind scoffed, eye widening in outrage. "What the heck is going on with you people?! What's going on at sunset?!"

"Oh?" Kyouya cheekily inquired, walking into the room with the other Host Club members and glancing up at her with an amused flick of his eyes. "Have you forgotten already? You have a date with a certain mister Nekozawa tonight: as instructed in the forums handed out yesterday, every Host is going to be dressing to the match tastes of the person they're accompanying for this event. You also have to do whatever the guest asks of you, since this is their night of bliss, and even if it seems completely ridiculous... you must go along with what they wish for, _unless_ it invades your physical boundaries."

"What?!" the black-haired girl choked, face turning purple with rage; when Kyouya snapped his fingers, two men wearing black suits and dark glasses strode into the room, brazenly grabbed her under the arms, and forcibly dragged her out of the classroom. "AHH! Hey! Let go of me! Get off! NO TOUCHING!"

They didn't let her go and merely ignored her snarls and cat-like hissing until she was standing in front of a dressing room.

Saelind squeaked when she was shoved into the dressing booth, because not even ten seconds afterwards, four young women with identical smiles on their faces walked in with beauty supplies and a box. The girl bit her cheek and squeezed her eyes shut when she was forced to sit down as they did her hair and applied some sort of coating to her face. Then the Ouran Uniform she was wearing was somehow stripped from her body within seconds. Stunned, dazed, and feeling completely exposed, Saelind merely let her mind go blank so she wouldn't go nuts from the hysteria overwhelming her. She really didn't want to risk her future of normalcy by biting someone's hand.

Before she was aware of what was going on, she was being ushered out of the changing booth and the entire of the Host Club was standing in front of her.

They were all donned in white and black tuxedos.

"You look great!" Tamaki exclaimed, nodding happily as he looked at Saelind's slender frame. "I knew that type of dress would be perfect for you!"

"What dress?" Ami asked, poking her head into the room and looking around; everyone glanced at her when she gasped, but Haruhi merely furrowed her brows when the Asian girl clamped two hands to her mouth. After a moment, she slowly walked forward and touched the dress that Saelind was wearing. "Wow! Saelind-chan, you look totally hot!"

Haruhi merely sighed and closed her eyes: one thing was for certain... Ami Kikiroshi was one hell of an actress.

"Huh?" Saelind asked, trying to make her brain work. "What's hot? My brain is partially turned off at the moment, so please leave a message after the beep."

And in a way, what she said was true: she'd detached herself to keep from going crazy.

Which was mainly why she couldn't process anything well enough to bother glancing down at herself.

She was currently wearing a black dress that looked as though it had been made for a porcelain Lolita doll. Her sleek black hair had been curled, so it now hung down her back in voluminous ebony waves. The darkness of the outfit also accentuated her pale skin and the bright color of her aquamarine eye—which, should be said, had been outlined with a fine line of glittering eyeliner and matching mascara. A high collar and long white stockings hid the majority of her skin, and shiny black slippers covered her small feet.

"The dark look is shockingly attractive on her," Haruhi murmured, rubbing her chin with a thoughtful expression. "For one thing, she's small enough to wear a dress like this, and all of her visible facial features work with it. She really does look like a Lolita girl now."

"True," the twins stated, looking highly unsatisfied for some reason, "but there's still something... not quite there."

When everyone looked at them, they finally stalked forward and began to circle the zoned-out teen, both of them frowning intensely.

It was true: there was still something missing, something off.

After a moment, Hikaru took a step back and eyed the girl standing before them with a quirked eyebrow.

Saelind felt undeniably uncomfortable under his scrutinizing amber eyes.

_What else do they want me to do? _she silently mourned, closing her eyes and sighing in dismay. _I'm dressed up like a creepy little doll because of them. _

In truth, if she hadn't been given the opportunity to repair the damage done to her face, she probably would have roundhouse kicked the twins right upside their heads and sent both of them flying out the nearest window. Still, respect and politeness always came first—or at least that's what her mother had taught her. However, in situations like these the girl wondered if it was okay to use a little non-ladylike violence: God knows she wasn't even a real lady, considering she'd always been a fairly violent girl.

The twins finally snapped their fingers in synchronicity, interrupting the girl from her thoughts. Saelind's muscles instinctively tensed when both of them once again walked up to her: she shivered when Kaoru moved behind her and started doing something with her hair, but she couldn't keep from baring her long fangs when Hikaru unfastened the braid keeping her scars hidden and undid it. However, she squeezed her eyes shut when he parted her hair in a different manner and started doing something else.

She felt something being tied behind her head and shuddered... then she felt soft hair sliding against her right cheek.

The twins continued their ministrations until the girl felt like she would go insane from them touching her, but then, they moved back.

And every person in the room gasped, jaws practically hitting the floor.

Saelind's bangs had been parted in a symmetrical manner, styled so beautifully and skillfully that nobody could see the scars on the left half of her face.

A ribbon had been tied into the back of the girl's hair, giving her the look that usually made most young Japanese men go nuts.

However, they weren't finished yet: when Kaoru picked up a lightly pink-tinted strain of lip gloss, the girl froze.

_No, no, no,_ she silently chanted, locking her jaw shut in horror. _If he touches my mouth, I won't be able to stop! I'll bite him!_

However, she tightened her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut when he leaned forward and started applying it to her full lips. A venomous hiss of rage slipped through her teeth when he finally pulled back and capped the gloss, and it was only then that she spoke her mind.

"You know what?" Saelind angrily grumbled, opening her eyes. "If I'd wanted to look like a fashion peacock, I probably could have done all of this by myself."

"You wouldn't have, though," the twins simultaneously chorused, shrugging and glancing at each other with a pair of grins. "So we had to."

With a final step back, Tamaki eyed their masterpiece: the visible parts of her face sparkled as the light caught it due to the glitter in her makeup, and her teal eyes shimmered just as beautifully despite the anger radiating the death glares they'd all grown accustomed to.

"You're as beautiful as any noble now!" Tamaki sighed in a dreamy manner, spinning around in a circle and sweeping Haruhi off her feet; the brunette squawked when she was danced around the room against her will. "Isn't Daddy a wonderful person, Haruhi?!"

"Gah! Tamaki-Senpai, stop it!" the girl squalled, dizzily trying to get free as she was spun around in circles. "Put me down already!"

"Oh, you're right," the blonde murmured, blinking in surprise. "We mustn't keep our guests waiting."

"No, we mustn't," Kyouya agreed, scribbling something down and flipping his notebook closed. "However, due to Nekozawa's condition with light, Saelind will wait for him in the Host Club until the sun has set. On your way back to the music room, put this on so people don't recognize you."

Saelind scowled when she was handed a hooded cloak similar to the one the towering boy from the previous afternoon had been wearing.

Then, without further ado, the girl threw it over her clothes and stormed out of the dressing room before sweeping down the hall like a wraith in black. She didn't want to do this... and when she got back to the abandoned music room, the girl momentarily considered ditching this plan. However, Kyouya was intimidating since he somehow knew what everyone was doing, all the time.

So, at this point, all she could really do was sit down and wait for the doors leading to the unknown room to open.

She sat for about maybe an hour, but after that she started reading a book on the occult she'd found sitting on the table in front of her: who it belonged to, she really didn't know, but she was a big fan of Bram Stoker... especially since Dracula was kind of awesome. She didn't realize that while she was reading, the door slowly opened up and a hooded figure slowly poked its head out into the open. When the shadowy young man then slid outside, the bright lights forced him to withdraw deeper into his hood.

Umehito Nekozawa slowly moved across the floor towards the other similarly-dressed figure, wanting nothing more than to be carving in his room. However, since the Host Club's power kind of scared him, he'd already decided it would be better to go along with them for just one more night. However, when he stretched out a large, pale hand and gently set it on the girl's shoulder, he wasn't expecting her reaction.

One second she was sitting in a fairly relaxed position; the next she was gripping his arm and throwing him over her shoulder with a wild snarl of rage.

"Ahhh!" Nekozawa yelped, landing hard on his back; he flinched and covered his eyes and face when the fluorescent lights above landed on him. "Stop!"

"Okay, rule number one: don't touch me!" Saelind snapped, shuddering violently as she clutched her shoulder. "Rule number two: NEVER startle me!"

"I'm... s-sorry," the boy stammered, practically gliding back to his feet; Saelind blinked and tilted her head back when he was finally standing completely upright, eyes growing larger than they'd been in a while. "I... didn't know you were startled that easily."

"Holy shit," Saelind scoffed, making the boy twitch and stare at her in surprise. "How tall are you?! You're, like, a giant or something!"

"Eehhhh?" Nekozawa drawled in a loose, creepy tone; however, his mouth opened a little in surprise, which sort of countered his manner of speech. She couldn't really see his eyes because his hair was hiding them, but from the little she could see, he hadn't been expecting that sort of inquiry from her. "Well, I gueeessss... you could say that I'm six foot five."

Saelind's mouth dropped.

"You're an inch taller than Mori," she muttered, shivering violently when she thought of the powerful youth. "Great. So, what's the plan for tonight?"

"What do you mean?" the boy slowly inquired, lifting his arms and revealing that there was a cat puppet resting on his left hand. "Plan?"

"I'm supposed to do whatever you want for a night," Saelind muttered, giving a shrug. "Pick something and let's get on with it. I just want to get this over with."

Nekozawa merely stared at her, mouth hanging open a little.

This was certainly unexpected: it seemed as though the person he'd gotten roped into spending time with was just as antisocial as he was. Which was weird, since she'd apparently been forced into joining the Host Club, the most social group in the entire Acadamy. After a moment, however, Nekozawa got an idea that would suit his mood and cocked his head.

"Hmmm... would you perhaps be interested in visiting a creepy abandoned house that nobody but myself knows about?" the burly teen inquired, wriggling the little cat puppet and making Saelind stare in disbelief. "I haven't found the courage to enter it all by myself, and that is saying something since I absolutely adore spooky things."

"Fine," Saelind grumbled, shivering a little before she angrily thrust her finger out, "but you try anything creepy, buster, and my knee is gonna hit your groin!"

With that, she thrust her hand out and gestured for him to lead the way.

Nekozawa didn't hesitate and practically glided out of the room: when Saelind followed, the two of them resembled some very creepy-looking specters.

They swept down the majestic hallways, padded down a couple grand staircases—and a few turns later the two of them were outside and sweeping across the school's grounds. It was already starting to get dark out: the sun wasn't completely gone yet, but there were no direct rays touching the earth. However, Saelind soon began to notice that Umehito snuck through the grounds as though he didn't want to be seen: he avoided all pools of light from the lamps that were scattered throughout the area.

Actually, it was more along the line that he shied away from everything bright.

"Sooo..." Saelind uncomfortably muttered, adjusting her cloak as they left the grounds and walked into a forested area that kind of baffled the girl. "Where exactly is this house you were talking about, and why the heck is it so special?"

"It's in the forests that cover the school's rear grounds," Nekozawa lowly chuckled. "The reason Ouran Academy was built here is a secret that only the headmaster and his grandson are supposed to know about, but I overhead it since I blend in with the shadows. When I am out and about, people usually don't give me a second glance because I am practically darkness itself."

"Sooo... why'd they build the school here?" Saelind sighed, rolling her eyes in an unamused fashion. "Mind getting to the point?"

"To cover up traces of the Silent War," Nekozawa snickered, making the girl blink and stare at him more seriously. "There have been rumors for more than thirty years now that Japan was involved in some sort of Civil uprising called the Silent War, you know: Ouran Academy was built here to hide the evidence that couldn't be destroyed. Some say it was due to several things being found, and others say it was because scientists wanted to study the area since there were signs of bio-terrorism being found around here. After that, however, everything was abandoned and left the way it had been found."

"Seriously?" Saelind asked, completely intrigued by what he was saying; she wasn't even shocked by her own curiosity, since anyone would have been amazed after hearing that. "Are you seriously saying that something so crazy is really hidden on Ouran's school grounds?"

"Yes," Nekozawa confirmed, giving a creepy little cackle. "It's absolutely fascinating, but like I said, I'm not brave enough to go into the house I found alone."

"Honestly, I don't even blame you," Saelind chuckled, startling herself so badly that she clamped a hand over her mouth. "I... I mean, whatever."

"We'll have to climb this wall right here," Nekozawa stated, stopping for a moment. "Do you need help getting over it?"

"A boost would be appreciated, since I'm not exactly the tallest person in the world," Saelind deadpanned, reluctantly glancing up at him. "However, this is literally the one and only time I am ever giving you my permission to touch me. Don't overdo it or I swear to God, I will beat the shit out of you."

When he shrugged and the little cat on his hand rubbed its face with a paw, the girl waited until he knelt down to put her foot in his hands.

Then she shakily put the other, and she placed both hands on the wall as she waited for him to lift: when she felt his muscles heaving, she tensed... but then, without warning, Umehito heaved her up much higher than she'd expected to be going and her feet lost contact with his hands. Flailing, the girl lunged outwards with her arms and dug her fingers into some loose bricks that lined the side of the wall.

"Ehhhh?" the boy drawled in a slow manner from below her, staring up at the girl as she flailed her legs. "You okay?"

However, when he suddenly realized that he could see up the skirt of her dress, his eyes widened and he froze.

Mostly because he'd noticed that she was wearing pale pink underpants with tiny red hearts on the butt cheeks.

_Oh, God,_ he thought, face turning bright red; he turned his eyes away and shivered. _They should have told her to wear pants!_

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Saelind growled breathlessly, unhooking one hand and extending her right arm to catch the ledge above her. Once she had a firm grip on it, Saelind unhooked her other hand and grabbed the ledge with her left hand before she tensed her muscles. "Okay, here we go... I hope to god I can still do it after such a long time!"

Then, tightening her stomach muscles and arm muscles, the slender girl legitimately pulled herself up in a straight line and slipped her body into an incredibly flexible handstand: Umehito's eyes widened and he twitched when he saw how well she was keeping her balance. Then, expertly flipping her hands around, the girl whimpered in pain and slowly brought her legs down behind her like a contortionist, planting her feet on the structure.

Then she righted herself with her arms spread for balance.

Dusting herself off, the girl turned around and stared down at him before sliding halfway off the opposite side and holding out her hands. In the blink of an eye, Nekozawa jumped up and clamped onto her: the girl strained her muscles and pulled him up, whining at the sound of her shoulders popping from the weight. Once he was also on the wall, the two of them jumped down to the other side.

"Ow..." Saelind groaned, shuddering violently. "I haven't done gymnastics in a long time... that seriously hurt the left half of my body."

"_Gomen Nasai,_" Nekozawa moaned like a ghoul, making his puppet kitty clap its hands. "Shall we go?"

"Sure," the girl muttered, shrugging off the pain with a grumble. "So, where to?"

"Follow me," the boy said mysteriously, gliding off into the forest without another word. Saelind sighed and followed him, prancing to keep up with his long-legged strides: they plodded along for some time through before they came upon a clearing with an abandoned two story house standing in the middle of a dead-zone area. Nothing was growing around the house, not even the trees. "We're here..."

"Whoa!" Saelind whispered, raising her eyebrows in shock. "You weren't kidding!"

"Let's go inside," Nekozawa whispered, looking for all the world like a little boy on Christmas. "I want to see what it looks like in there."

"If you say so," Saelind murmured, staring at the creepy house in awe. "I thought you were making it up, honestly: this is actually really, really cool! How'd you find this place?"

"I was exploring the school at night like I always do, since I live in the school itself," Nekozawa chuckled lowly, giving her a seemingly twisted smile; Saelind cocked an eyebrow and wondered if he even knew how creepy he looked. "It was on one of those nights that I decided to leave the main grounds... and because of it, I found this house as well as four others in these woods. Nothing grows around them: it's all dead."

"Well, it's an amazing discovery, that much is true," Saelind replied, blinking a few times in surprise before the two of them walked up to the old wooden house. The stairs of the front porch creaked underneath their feet, telling the girl how old it must have been: Saelind breathed in amazement and stretched out a hand to turn the rusted doorknob. However, it wouldn't budge. "Aww... that sucks. It's locked."

"Did you honestly expect a house this old to be open?" Nekozawa teased, crouching down and using a pins that he withdrew from his cloak to pick the old lock. After hearing the small click of success, he looked up at her with a twisted smile. "I'm a genius, however."

So saying, he stood up and carefully pushed the door open: the rusted hinges protested loudly, making a screeching sound that had Saelind wincing.

"Admittedly, yes I did—but I can say that I wasn't expecting to discover that you're good at breaking and entering other people's houses," Saelind slyly noted as she walked past him and entered the building. "Makes me wonder what you do in your free time."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Nekozawa cackled with a creepy grin. "Just as there is a lot I don't know about you. We're strangers, remember?"

"Duh," the girl sighed, sarcastically rolling her visible eye before she hesitantly glanced around. "Still... this place is amazing."

In truth, that wasn't even a lie: the house was dark, musty, and years of dust had covered just about everything inside.

It was alarmingly old... and apparently, they were standing in what used to be the living room; ahead of them was an archway that led to what looked like a kitchen, and beyond that was a set of stairs that headed to the second floor. The kitchen had a joined dining room, and off to the left was door that most likely led to either a pantry or the basement.

Oddly enough, the home had a western style build.

"Let's check out the upstairs first," Nekozawa suggested, silently reasoning that it would be best to start from the top and work their way down. Saelind gave him a small nod and the two of them headed up the creaky old stairs. However, when they were only halfway up, one of the stairs gave under the girl's feet and she fell partway through.

"EEK! H-help! Help me!" she shrieked, eyes instantly becoming huge with terror; she extended her fingers and dug them into the nearest surface just before she slid through the hole that had opened up beneath her. Her body jerked to a halt, but she was now clinging onto the remaining stairs with nothing more than her fingernails: most of her body was dangling above a terrifying darkness that loomed like a chasm beneath her body. "U-um, help me! Please?!"

"Here, take my hand," Nekozawa stammered, extending his arm to her; the girl instantly flailed and shakily grabbed onto his palm. Straining, the hooded boy struggled to pull her up, but once he did he jerked her against his chest a little too hard: both of them stumbled and fell against the stairs, but Saelind was shaking so badly that her fear of being touched had been forgotten. For a few moments, she didn't even realize that she was clinging to a guy she didn't even know due to the adrenaline coursing through her. "A-are you okay?"

It took the girl a moment to answer: her eyes were blank as the memories of falling through another floor played before her eyes.

Her past was once again flickering to the surface, reminding her of who she was and why she hated physical contact.

Shaking violently, she finally managed to push herself away from him and hugged herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, swallowing hard and staring at the ground, "but that was... that was really, really scary."

"Hold my hand, then," Nekozawa moaned, taking her left hand before leading the girl upstairs. "I don't want either of us falling through the floor."

The girl shuddered and decided to ignore her instincts for once: she could put up with this until they got out of here, because he was actually correct.

Between holding a hand she didn't want to hold and falling to her death because of her own stubborn attitude, she wasn't dumb enough to choose the latter.

On the second floor were three bedrooms with antique Japanese-style furniture—though most of it had been badly damaged, and all of it was covered in cobwebs. Umehito slowly opened another door and revealed an ancient bathroom that was just as badly damaged as the rest of the house: Saelind cringed at the sight of dead cockroaches lying in the tub.

Not finding anything else of interest, the two of them went back down the stairs—avoiding the hole that Saelind had almost fallen through.

When they walked into the kitchen, however, a familiar scent caught the girl's nose and she froze.

Fire.

She smelled fire.

Sniffing the air, Saelind absently let go of Nekozawa's hand and walked over to the sink before looking down at it.

Her blood ran cold and she stiffened, eye widening in shock: there were dark blood stains on the sink that looked to be nearly a hundred years old.

"Um, hey," she whispered, looking at the sink with a blank expression, "there's blood in here."

"Huh? How can you tell?" the boy lowly replied, walking up behind her and peering over her shoulder with his kitty puppet. "Are you sure it isn't rust? I can't really make out one stain from the other because of how old everything is."

However, the girl's teal eye was already following the trail of blood that led down the sink and off into the house towards a closed door.

Not listening to him, she followed the bloodstains on the floor with a thudding heart: there was so much of it…

"Hey, don't wander off," Nekozawa called; however, when the girl ignored him, he chased after her and caught her arm. "Really, don't wander off! This house is very old and dangerous—not to mention its falling apart at the seams!"

"Ugh, let go of me!" Saelind snapped, jerking her hand free and turning around to face him. "Seriously, look at all the—"

However, she froze when the house itself suddenly seemed to let out a shrieking groan: just as the two of them looked up in startled alarm, the floor beneath their feet suddenly dropped nearly half a foot and started caving in without warning—sending both teens falling to their knees. Saelind squeaked in terror just as Nekozawa looked up at her: then the sound of ripping wood screeched around them and a void of empty shadows started opening up below their hands and knees. Just before she fell, Saelind's teal eye became huge with terror. Then she was falling... and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she slammed into the ground and everything went quiet and dark.


	22. Chapter 21: Alone in the Dark

**Author's Note:** _I asked Saelind if I could once again start switching back and forth between the story cover with her real face and the anime cover I had before it! _Ya know, the one I spent two and a half weeks on:_ if ya didn't know, it basically depicts a drawn OHSHC version of Saelind, or rather... what I pictured she'd look like if she'd been animated onto Ouran. Guess what she said? You got it: HELL YES! :D Lol, it's not like I needed permission anyway, but it still makes me feel nice to know that she liked it enough to NOT give one of her trademark death glares! So, Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: Alone in the Dark**

Pain.

Her entire body was filled with it... but, somehow, she wasn't hurting as badly as she should have been.

Slowly opening her eyes, the girl was dazed to see nothing but darkness all around her.

"Ow..." Saelind whined, closing her eyes fighting to move her heavy limbs even as her head slowly swam out of the darkness. "What just happened?"

She shifted slightly when she felt an extreme amount of pressure on top of her, but when the girl opened her eyes a second time, she only found more darkness. However, she suddenly realized that there was something warm resting on her face—and after recalling what had just happened, the girl squirmed under the weight as panic began flooding her heart. It was just like being back in the Penthouse Apartments, but without all the heat and fire.

When Nekozawa suddenly groaned and stirred, however, she realized with a jolt that it was him on top of her body.

"Ugh… what a headache," he moaned, lifting himself halfway up and making some of the rubble slide off of his back in the process; Saelind twitched and her mouth slowly opened in surprise when a shred of cloth was moved out of the way. The boy in front of her had somehow gone from being a creepy-looking black-haired youth to a rugged-looking prince with platinum blonde hair. "Are you injured?"

Saelind couldn't catch her breath long enough to answer: she was in total shock.

His eyes were utterly entrancing... from what she could see, they were such a light shade of blue that they almost seemed to emit their own light.

"Yeah," she finally croaked, shivering when she realized that she'd just relived her worst nightmares twice in the same night. "I didn't hit my head."

"Good," the boy murmured, letting out a sigh of relief and closing his eyes as he lowered his own head. "Ow... wish I could say the same. Keheheheh."

"Are you okay?" Saelind tentatively asked, realizing with a horrified jolt that he'd protected her from the debris that had come crashing down around them by using his own back as a shield. "Oh, God, did you seriously take a fall for me...? You're not hurt, are you?!"

"I am fine," he drawled, giving her the same twisted grin as before; the girl's heart skipped a beat and her face turned bright pink in surprise, since his smile actually wasn't creepy at all. In fact, it was more goofy than anything else, but that part had been hidden just as much as his face had been. "It _did_ hurt, but not enough to cause a serious injury. Don't worry."

Saelind could feel his breath on her cheeks since his face was hovering only an inch above hers.

"Y-you look like a totally different person," Saelind stated weakly, staring at him with an uncomfortable teal eye. "Why do you wear that hood all the time?!"

His smile was gone in an instant and he immediately looked around for his wig.

However, the moment he turned, a piece of floorboard creaked above them and suddenly came swinging down like a pendulum, hitting the blonde right on the back of the head. The impact smacked his face downwards and forced his lips collide with Saelind's. And in the small girl's mind, for a brief second, time unexpectedly froze: her senses went numb... her mind went blank... and her raging instincts fell silent for the first time in her life. When she made the connection of what had just occurred, her eye widened.

it couldn't be happening.

It wasn't, right?

But... if that was the case, why was her heart hurting in so many terrible ways...?

And why was it, that in one way alone... somehow... it didn't hurt at all?

Was he actually kissing her?!

She didn't understand. Her senses and instincts should have been forcing her body to move, to fight, to claw... to run.

But she was frozen.

However, before she could force herself to move, he jerked away of his own accord and clutched his skull with both hands.

"AAAGH!" Nekozawa squalled, rubbing his bruised skull and acting like nothing odd had just happened. "Nyaaaah! That time it hurt! Ow!"

Saelind slowly stared off onto space, not able to comprehend anything at all: it hadn't been a real kiss.

Just an accident.

Relief flooded through her, making her frigid personality dissolve without any warning whatsoever: before she could control it, an unbearably light feeling welled up from within her chest... and she started choking violently in an attempt to stay quiet. However, her struggle caught the boy's attention, so he stopped grumbling long enough to look at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, wondering for a moment whether he'd hurt her by accident. "Are you truly all right, Heseroph-san?"

By way of answer, the black-haired girl girl let her head thump back to the floor, took a deep breath—and burst into hysterical laughter. Which utterly dumbfounded and confused the boy straddling her waist: feeling a little unnerved, the pale youth started looking around for his Beelzenef puppet and his black wig, both of which he put in their respectful places..

"S-sorry," Saelind squeaked out between laughs, momentarily forgetting everything going on around her due to the absurdity of the situation she'd fallen into. "I-it's just… funny how you thought everything was okay, but the moment you relaxed you got whacked in the head by a wooden board! Wow!"

"Ehhh...?" he droned, looking at her with a peeved expression as he dragged his wig back on. "You find the pain of others to be comical?"

"Hell yes!" Saelind nervously laughed, trying to cover up just how shaken up she'd been due to what had happened; then she noticed a dark trail of blood running down the boy's chin from the corner of his bottom lip. The girl instantly clutched her mouth, teal eye bugging out of her skull: she could taste blood on her top fang. "Crap... are you okay? My tooth punctured your lip..."

"What?" he inquired, slowly lifting a hand and touching the blood on his chin before examining it. "Interesting... how sharp are your teeth?"

"Let's just say that I've been compared to a vampire before," Saelind grumbled, hesitantly pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and shakily dabbing at the boy's chin; despite her reluctance to touch him, she couldn't help but wince when she saw how deep the puncture on his mouth really was. "Jesus... I am so sorry."

When he unexpectedly drew back, the way he looked her made the girl feel as though she were five years old: it kind of pissed her off.

"I may be allergic to sunlight, but I'm not made of glass," he drawled, slowly pulling his hood up and rising to his feet. "How do we get out of here?"

"How am I supposed to know?" the girl snapped, feeling her normal grouchy self rising back to the surface. "We fell through a frigging floor."

"I'd assume this is the basement, then," Umehito sighed, looking around and making the cat puppet clap its little hands. "Where are the stairs?"

"Who knows?" Saelind muttered, rolling her visible eye with a shiver. "We might as well explore a bit now that we're stuck down here."

"All right," Nekozawa replied, nodding in agreement. "I wonder if we'll find anything down here?"

When the two of them were standing up again, Saelind was kind of surprised that they could see the basement a little: a small amount of moonlight was spilling in through the hole they'd made. In the farthest corner of the room, there were bookshelves lining the walls with an antique desk nestled between them. Feeling curious, Saelind carefully walked over to the writing table, trying not to trip on the debris in the process. When she reached the desk, she examined the contents resting on its surface: an old-fashioned Japanese calligraphy quill, blank sheets of paper, and a drinking glass.

Not finding the items interesting, the girl began rummaging through the drawers.

After opening the last one, however, she found a leather-bound notebook of some sort and paused, teal eye widening in surprise.

"Hey, Mr. Shady Beanpole!" Saelind called, aquamarine gaze fastened to the cover of the volume. "I think I just found a diary!"

"Ehhh? Really?" Nekozawa droned, gliding over to her after he'd finished surveying the vast collection of books. The girl eagerly opened the dusty notebook, sneezing in the process: the binding contained loose sheets of yellowed paper and a collection of letters. "Wow. You really did."

"Well, I mean, I _think_ it's a diary," she replied after a moment of trying to read the words. "I can't make out what it says, though. It's not in Russian, English, _or _Japanese."

"Oh, I have something that should help," Nekozawa said, pulling a candle out of his cloak and lighting it with a match. "There we go."

"Whoa!" Saelind snorted, doing a double take and staring at the form of light in surprise; she was feeling more than a little baffled by his personality quirks. "Do you always carry around random crap like that? Seriously, why do you have a candlestick in your pocket?"

"I may seem like I embody Darkness itself," he replied with a smirk, amusement dancing in his half-hidden expression, "but sometimes, things are too dark for even _me_ to see since I'm human just like everyone else."

"Uh, duh?" she sarcastically retorted, rolling her eye before focusing on the writing, "'_May 27th, 1861?!'_ Holy crap, this is _old!"_

_"'Dear_ _Diary…'_" Nekozawa read aloud, peering over her shoulder and looking undeniably curious. "_Today is the fifth year since we've started living in our new home. It's comfortable, and I can't wait to have children. Kenta and I have decided to have two children, so we made three bed chambers on the upper floor…_'"

"So it _is_ a diary," Saelind whispered, feeling totally awed. "We could probably make a fortune from this thing if we took it to a museum!"

"True, but we have no need for things like money, right?" Umehito chuckled, giving her a smirk. "Why not save it for someone less fortunate?"

Saelind was too busy staring at something that had been tucked within the pages to hear that particular remark.

"Hey... look at this," she finally murmured, unfolding the old paper that had been sticking out of the pages. "It says, 'Dear Karin… how are you doing, darling? I know it has only been a month since I was drafted into the Korean militia, but I miss you terribly, my sweet love…' Wait, does this really say the Korean Militia? Were there things happening with Korea back then?"

"Eeeh? I don't remember," Nekozawa stated simply, tilting his head with a crooked grin. "It's like we've just invaded someone's personal life."

"True, but I want to read this diary," she stated, eye bright with an unfathomable amount of hunger. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime!"

"If you say so," Nekozawa acknowledged. "Let's sit down."

Moments later, they found an oil lamp and—after settling down against the wall—Saelind curled up next to Nekozawa and the two of them began reading the diary. Based on the first few entries, the two of them managed to learn that it had belonged to a Japanese woman named Karin Aminogatari: they followed the young woman's story about her and her husband, Kenta... even going as far reading the love letters that had been exchanged between them.

In the diary—as well as one of the letters—Karin had written of her pregnancy: she had also written in the letter to Kenta that she'd become pregnant with his baby, cheerfully explaining that it had been conceived right before he'd left. The man's adorable reaction had been written so descriptively that Saelind and Nekozawa had both smiled without knowing it.

In later letters, the couple had started bantering about the name their child should have had, which thoroughly amused the teens.

"'I would truly love to have a daughter, but as long as it is our child, then it does not matter to me,'" Saelind quietly read, speaking aloud as her teal eye flitted across the letter that Nekozawa was holding. "'This child is proof of our love and union. We have become one through him or her, and for that, I will love the outcome no matter what.'"

"Impressive," the boy sitting beside her droned, turning the letter over as his puppet clapped its hands. "He must have really been in love."

"Well, it's not like they could choose the gender of the child anyway," Saelind said calmly, knowing full and well what it was like to love someone and feeling completely bitter about it. "The fact that he accepted her regardless was only natural, right?"

"True," the boy said with a small nod of acknowledgement, "but if you consider what Era this was written in, baby girls were often considered useless by some families. In extreme cases, children were sometimes abandoned."

When Saelind shook her head with a sigh, he picked up yet another letter and they started reading again.

The couple had finally settled on naming the child Yuzuru if it was a boy, and Kanade if it was a girl.

After all, they'd wanted a child to represent Music.

Later on, Karin had written in one of the letters about giving birth to a daughter, and the news nearly made her husband die of joy. As they followed the story, Umehito and Saelind lost track of the time—and because the two of them were so immersed in their reading, they also forgot where they were. However, when the teenagers were halfway done with the diary and all of the letters in it, Saelind's brow furrowed when something odd caught her eye.

After a moment, she pulled out a tattered piece of parchment and unfolded it: this paper was different from the others.

* * *

_My Beloved Karin._

_I am glad that our daughter is doing wonderful, but I have some grave news. Yet, before I say anything, I want you to know that you are my beloved wife and will be the only woman to ever hold my heart. These last couple days we have been engaged in a battle with the Chinese Army, and we have been losing: many of our men have already fallen, and I am afraid that our troops won't win this fight. My heart is filled with sorrow and it tears me apart to write about this, but I might never hold my beautiful daughter or even see your face again. Know one thing, though: no matter if I live or die, I will always be there to watch over you. Your beloved, Kenta._

* * *

Skipping through some diary pages, the girl found an old tear-stained telegram informing Karin of her husband's death.

Nothing else was written in the diary aside from a few sentences that made no sense whatsoever.

_Something is coming from the woods. I feel it in the air: the house is alive, and my daughter is not well. There are ghosts inside.  
Silence. The silence. It is alive inside this house, as well as my heart._

After that, the diary was empty.

"Well, that was depressing," Saelind grumpily muttered, leaning against the wall and staring out at nothing. "I thought this would have had a happy ending."

"Fairytale endings are very rare," Umehito murmured in a very lofty voice. "That's why the few stories that have them are remembered."

They sat there together in a depressed silence for a long time before Saelind finally stood up and searched the rest of the desk and bookshelves, hoping to find another diary or at least a letter explaining what had happened to Karin and Kanade.

"There's nothing else," she said with a disappointed sigh. "No fair."

"There's an extra room over there," Nekozawa offered, pointing to an old wooden door. "Maybe we'll find something in there."

Walking over to it, he turned the key that was already in the padlock and pushed it open, not waiting for Saelind to join him.

"It's just a wine cellar," he sighed in defeat, looking around at the racks of different wines and several barrels. "Albeit, a very old one."

"Wow!" Saelind murmured, examining a bottle with a startled expression. "This is... holy shit! All of these bottles are worth more than two million each! People don't even make these wines anymore! Look at the logos: they were made by companies that vanished off the face of the earth before World War One even took place! And judging by the dates, these are gonna be really, really good! Let's try some!"

"How about not," Nekozawa snorted, grabbing the wine bottle from her hands and setting it back where it was. "You're more trouble than I thought."

Before she could so much as hiss, he guided her away from the alcohol.

"You don't know much about me, either," she countered with a sour expression. "For example—I'm not a Barbie doll. I can probably handle alcohol."

"I guess we're even then," he murmured, closing the door behind them without locking it. "So, want to continue exploring?"

Saelind didn't answer him: she was staring at something in the corner of the room that had caught her attention.

"What _is_ that?" she whispered, teal eye large and focused. "Give me your candle for a second... something's moving over there."

"Huh? A ghost?!" he asked, head flying up so fast that his shining blue eyes were revealed. "Is it a ghost?!"

Once again, Saelind didn't answer.

Feeling her heart thudding deep within her chest, the girl slowly stepped forward towards the object that was moving in the farthest corner of the basement. It was swaying back and forth... but the closer she got, the more her gut seemed to tighten. All of her instincts went on alert, and something was telling her to get the hell away from the house.

"Something's not right," Saelind whispered, slowly approaching the object.

"What do you mean?" Nekozawa inquired. making his puppet nod at her when she lifted the candle a little higher. "What's not right?"

Saelind was just about to fire off a retort to be quiet when she stiffened and abruptly clamped a hand over her nose and mouth.

Her teal eye widened to the size of a saucer as a sudden and _very_ awful smell hit her nose.

"Oh, Jesus!" the girl choked out, trying not to throw up; she gagged and shook her head as she heaved. "Ew! Oh, God… _yuck_."

"What's wrong?" Nekozawa happily inquired, glancing at her with hopeful eyes. "You're acting strangely! Do you feel something?!"

"No, but something smells really, _really_ bad," Saelind replied in a muffled tone, glancing around with watering eyes. "Ugh, yuck..."

When she found the source of the smell, however, the girl froze with a look of terror on her face. Nekozawa only glanced at her expression once, but even _that_ was enough to make his hair stand on end... albeit in a good way, since he was a paranormal fanatic and adored situations like these. The hooded boy instantly turned to face whatever she was staring at, but sadly, nothing aside from the swaying white object met his gaze. Knowing that they probably needed light quickly, he fumbled with another candle and lit a match.

"Tell me I'm _not_ really seeing that," the girl hissed, face tight in dismay. "Tell me that's not what I _think_ it is. I'm about to freak!"

"What are you looking at?" Nekozawa cheerfully demanded, finally getting the candle to light properly. "It has to be a ghost, right?!"

Soon, a much brighter glow lit the room they had entered, but instead of seeing something to get excited about, the pale youth's expression began to mirror Saelinds's: the candlelight was dancing across what appeared to be the swinging skeleton of a woman who's head had been impaled on a hooked spike. The Russian girl was horrified even further to notice that the white thing she'd originally spotted was a white nightgown.

However, that wasn't all: around them were the skeletons of several people... some were leaning on the wall and others lay on the ground.

Yet, all of them were people who had once been alive.

Nekozawa and Saelind slowly started backing away from the sight until a flash of something dark near the other side of the room caught the girl's attention.

"What was that?!" the girl choked, eye widening in shock; she immediately pointed, frantically waving her hand. "Did you see it?! Something is down here with us! It moved! This isn't normal!"

"This..." Nekozawa whispered, slowly looking around in delight, "this is... like something straight out of a book about ghost stories. Amazing."

"H-hey, let's go back to the Academy," Saelind stammered, shivering violently as they looked around for the door. "Better yet, let's go back to my apartment."

"Ehhhh?" Nekozawa droned, glancing down at her with a mild expression of surprise. "Are you inviting me to your home? On a first date no less?"

"Um, excuse me for not wanting to be by myself after seeing something so freaky! And this isn't a date!" Saelind snapped, looking around with a flashing teal eye. "Seriously, let's just get out of here... something about this place feels wrong."

"Well, we could if we knew where the stairs were," Nekozawa pointed out, making the girl blink and turn around in a slow circle. "This is an odd room."

"What the fuck?" Saelind muttered, quirking an eyebrow and glancing at the barren walls. "No way... it has furniture, so there has to be a way in."

"It's built on a hill..." Nekozawa admitted, making the girl blink at him. "Behind the house was a steep incline. Maybe the way in was sealed off."

"EH?!" Saelind shrieked, eyes widening in horror. "NO WAY!"

When the girl backed away, she unexpectedly bumped into a skeleton leaning against the wall by accident, causing the skeleton's head to loll forward and rest on her shoulder. When the girl glanced at it, she let out a high-pitched shriek and took off towards the mead hatch like a spooked animals. Nekozawa instantly followed her when she threw it open and bolted inside: after that, she shut the door behind them.

"So, what are we doing in here?" Nekozawa droned, glancing at her with an amused expression. "Should we wait until someone finds us?"

"No way in hell," Saelind murmured, shaking her head in anger; she glanced at the candles they were holding in dismay. "Let's figure out a way to get out of this creepy place. Some plan Tamaki came up with... God, I hate the Host Club."

"Why'd you join them, then?" Nekozawa droned, seeming to be at ease in the cobweb-filled storeroom. "It doesn't seem natural to hate those you joined."

"Oh, they blackmailed me into doing what they wanted, same as they do everyone else," the girl grumbled, shivering a little. "What the hell happened here?"

"I don't know," Umehito chuckled, giving her a toothy grin, "but this is a haunting goldmine! I should get more members for my club so we can investigate it!"

Before anything else could be said, a loud click came from the door in front of them and both teens started violently: Saelind's eye slowly widened and she froze.

"Please tell me that wasn't what I think it was?" she whispered, shrinking backwards against the wall with a terrified expression. "Please?"

Nekozawa merely stood up and walked over to the door with a puzzled frown... but then, he tried to turn the knob.

And it wouldn't budge.

"It was," he stated happily, giving her a delighted grin. "The door somehow locked itself. This place is haunted!"

Saelind's only response to that was to let her head thump back against the wall and let out a heavy sigh of dismay.

"Well," she finally muttered, closing her visible teal eye, "at least we have some candlelight."

As if some unholy thing were trying to make her life worse, both candles suddenly flickered and went out, enshrouding them in darkness.

For a long moment, neither of them said a word... nothing was spoken.

"I don't think whatever's in this place likes you very much," Nekozawa finally moaned, letting out a breathy chuckle. "It's almost rather funny."

"Shut up, Mr. Shady Beanpole," Saelind grumbled, not wanting to think about the swaying skeleton only one room away. "It's not funny."

And in truth, it wasn't. Not at all.

But did that stop Nekozawa from sniggering and clapping his little puppet's hands?

Nope.


	23. Chapter 22: A Story To Remember

**Chapter Twenty Two: A Story To Remember**

Saelind didn't want to admit it, especially herself, but being stuck inside that old wine cellar... well, she was scared.

No... scared was too dull of a word.

She was terrified.

To her, darkness was a visual of the emptiness that had always surrounded her back in Russia... it was a reminder of the time when everyone had completely ignored her, had acted as though she hadn't existed. Whenever it was dark, she was reminded that she was alone: that's why she was scared of it. And right then, in a room that was darker than anything she had ever been subjected to, she was so terrified that she couldn't stop shaking.

At the moment, she and Umehito Nekozawa were sitting against the farthest wall of the old cellar, facing the door.

However, maybe it was a good thing it was so dark... her entire body was shaking and she had her head buried in her knees, a sure sign of how scared she was really feeling. She hated the dark... she hated it: shadows were fine, and even moderate darkness like her apartment during the night was okay, but this? This was like being in an empty void with nothing but the sound of her own breathing to keep her company. Oh, _and_ a bizarre young man who had a tendency to chuckle and mutter random things at the weirdest times. Umehito hadn't brought anymore matches, so they were stuck with no light... and no way out.

The silence finally started grinding on the Russian girl's nerves, so she spoke up, voice coming out a little more shaky than she would have liked.

"How do you think... she died?" Saelind asked, not lifting her head from her knees. "The lady out there, I mean... the one in the nightgown."

"Eehhh...?" Nekozawa drawled in that slow, sleepy tone; the way he spoke made it seem as if he didn't care one way or another. "Well, since there were multiple skeletons lying around her, she was probably attacked during the Silent War. That's the only guess I can come up with."

Saelind's brow twitched and she clenched her jaw, not really getting the whole 'silent war' thing.

"Well, who do you think she is?" Saelind inquired, finally lifting her head and abruptly closing her eye. "Could it be Karin...? Or... Kanade?"

"It was most likely Karin-san," Umehito drawled, letting out a sleepy sigh. "Remember the letters? Her husband sent her a beautiful white nightgown made with the finest embroidery while he was out and about."

"Yeah, I do remember that," the girl muttered, touching the dress she'd been forced to wear with a small sigh. "It's such a sad story... but seriously, what the hell do you think happened down here? I mean, she died so horribly, and... and... all of those people died with her! It's... frightening, in a way."

"Hmmm... I don't really know," Nekozawa snickered, making the girl wince. "I have to admit, though, I'm feeling rather good about this place being haunted."

"Could you kindly shut your mouth until we get out of here?" Saelind squeaked, face flaming bright red with shaky irritation. "I mean, damn! That isn't the type of thing I want to be hearing right now!"

"Gome nasaiiii..." Nekozawa moaned, sounding like a ghoul on a good day. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm not scared!" Saelind screeched, sounding for all the world like a woman having a serious PMS rampage. "I'm not scared at all!"

For a long moment, there was nothing but silence, and the girl internally winced for taking her anger out on him.

For all she knew, he was just as scared as she was, and that made her feel guilty.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Saelind muttered, burying her chin in her knees with a much more reticent sigh. "It's really not your fault that I'm angry, so don't take it that way... please. I'm pretty sure Kyouya would make me suffer if he found out that I yelled at you when this is supposed to be your special day or whatever, but honestly... darkness like this... it really does scare me."

"Ehhh?" Nekozawa sleepily drawled, sounding somewhat curious. "Why are you scared of the dark?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Saelind immediately stated, not even waiting for him to finish the end of the question; however, it was in that moment when a terrifying thought shocked Saelind's gut. "H-hey... didn't you say earlier that you're the only one who knows about this place?"

"Yes, that is correct... or, at least, I would assume so," Nekozawa drawled, sounding rather curious. "I doubt any of the other students would have wandered this far into the woods, so I'm pretty sure it's only me."

"Nobody knows?!" Saelind whimpered, pupil dilating and sweat breaking out across her face; she sat up straight with tense shoulders. "Seriously?! But... b-but... if that's the case, how are we gonna get out of here?! We're trapped and the door somehow locked itself from the outside!"

"I don't know," Umehito ghoulishly moaned; the girl could just picture him shrugging. "Maybe we could try kicking the door down?"

"Fat chance," the Russian girl snorted, shivering in dismay. "Did you see what the door was made of when you lit your candles? It's pure metal! This house might be old, but I doubt it's old enough for a sturdy door like _that_ to go down with the firepower we've got under our belts."

"Well, how about we sing a school song, then?" Umehito chuckled, making the girl scowl and shake her head in revulsion. "Singing seems to help whenever people get stuck in situations like the one we're in... do they not?"

"I'll pass on the school songs," Saelind sourly grumbled, planting her chin on her knees. "I don't like anything about Ouran Academy aside from it's success rate: that's the ONLY reason I'm still going there. In truth, my mother was the one who picked the school: I didn't have a choice."

For a long moment, Umehito was quiet.

"You know? I like darkness like this," the boy finally moaned, chuckling in a low manner. "In the darkness, you can't see anything... it shelters those who need it. After all, in brightly lit places, people can't help but see _everything_. For some, that can be scary... and that's why they hide in the shadows, be it physically, or metaphorically."

"Weirdo... did you morph into a fortune cookie while I wasn't paying attention?" Saelind sarcastically demanded. "What the hell was all that about?"

"It means, that there are times when you can let yourself come into the light," Nekozawa chuckled, making the girl scowl. "Like now, for instance: what better time than when you're surrounded in complete darkness?"

Saelind felt anger blooming within her as a natural reflex upon hearing his statement.

"What are you playing at?" the girl slowly demanded. "Are you telling me... that you want me to talk about things I _don't_ want to talk about?!"

"We could always go back to the school song idea," Umehito sniggered, making the girl's eye snap open in outrage. "Isn't it my special niiiight?"

Saelind squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath to scream at him, but she caught a mental flash of Kyouya taking her chance at a normal life away. In that moment, her throat caught and she choked a little. She sat there in the dark for the longest time, mouth fighting to work... wanting nothing more than to run away... but she was trapped. The Host Club had so much power over her that she was currently being roped into talking about everything she'd wanted to forget.

"You're really cruel, you know that?" Saelind whispered, feeling the sting of suppressed tears in her right eye. "You're the worst."

"Eh?" Nekozawa asked, sounding a little startled by the unexpected statement. "What did I do?"

"Nothing at all," the girl retorted lifelessly, letting her head thump back against the wood. "I'm the one in chains, after all, so don't worry about it. I just hope you're ready for everything I'm about to tell you. Fair warning: this isn't a happy subject, and if you say anything to anyone about it, I'll murder you."

"Eheheheh..." Nekozawa chuckled, making the girl's eyebrow twitch. "Fine by me."

Saelind was quiet for a long time, and her chest was hurting... she felt so sick, knowing that she was talking to a total stranger about herself. It made her want to vomit and start crying. She hated the Host Club and everyone in it more than anything else in the world right then... but, after a moment, she used one of her oldest tactics and let her consciousness float away from her. She became detached, the same way that she'd done countless times after she'd been burned.

Soon, her mouth was moving and she felt next to nothing.

She was outside of herself.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but my mother is the Grand Duchess of Russia," the girl stated blankly, voice coming out almost robotic. "She and I don't get along very well, so... let's just say that we're not on good terms. After I was scarred up, my mother kept me locked up in a room like this for months on end. There were no windows because of the paparazzi, and the only light switch was broken, so it was always pitch black. I hate the dark because it brings back memories of when I was locked in that room. Alone."

Umehito was silent.

"That was heavier than I expected," he said after a long moment in time. "Did your own mother really do that to you?"

"Well, what else could she do?" Saelind asked, turning her head with a glazed teal eye. "She's the grand duchess of the Russian Federation... I mean, yeah, it was... unpleasant, but it's not like I don't understand why she did what she did. Having someone like me hanging around could ruin the reputation of the country: paparazzi and news reporters hoping for a scoop used to hang around all over the place, trying to get pieces of info that would completely humiliate our family. All famous people go through it, right?"

"Yes, it is fairly common for people with a lot of high standing to go through that," Nekozawa confirmed, sounding a little thoughtful. "I'm half Russian, you know... my mother was a famous artist from Moscow, and my father owns a chain of business estates on top of working for the Ootori family. I can understand all too well the hardships."

"Truthfully," Saelind weakly laughed, closing her eye before she stood up and felt her way over to the door. "Even if we never make it out of here and we die or something... I don't think there's a single person back home who would miss me. In fact, they'd probably celebrate the fact that I vanished... God only knows that my mother doesn't give a damn unless she needs something."

"What about your father?" Nekozawa asked, making the girl snort. "Wouldn't he care?"

"Not at all," Saelind muttered, fiercely rubbing her eye and drying her face off. "He can't even remember what day my birthday is, let alone take enough of a break from whatever the hell he's doing to care. Truthfully, I dislike my father even more than my mother: the duchess actually has a bit of pride, regardless of how crappy of a person she is... my father has absolutely none. Now, since I've told you all of this, let's try to figure out a way to..."

Before she could finish speaking, the sound of the lock clicking made her jump.

"Ehhhh?" Nekozawa drawled, making the girl shiver in total disbelief; the sound of him getting up met her ears, and when he swept past her, she felt the air brushing against her cheek. Then, the sound of the knob turning met her ears... and the door opened. Saelind winced and shielded her eye when she spotted the moonlight filtering in through the hole in the ceiling. "Well, apparently, the ghost must not hate you after all."

"Why did it unlock?" the girl whispered, glancing at him with an enormous teal eye. "More importantly, HOW did it unlock?! There's nothing in here!"

"Maybe it was Karin's spirit," Nekozawa suggested, lifting his incredibly light blue eyes to the ceiling. "She was happy to be a mother... she loved her daughter with everything she had in her, right? Maybe she felt sorry for you after hearing your story... it would make anyone sad."

"Shut up," Saelind mumbled, averting her eye with a scowl. "Just because I told you that doesn't mean you know anything about me!"

"True... but that still doesn't explain how we're supposed to get out of here," Nekozawa drawled, glancing down at his kitty puppet; she rolled her eye when it clapped its little paws and nodded. In the dark, she'd almost forgotten about how weird this guy was. "Maybe we could move the desk?"

Before they could respond, the dark shape Saelind had seen earlier flitted just out of her range of vision: the girl shrieked and clamped down on Umehito's arm so tightly that he yelped, but before anything else could happen, a square piece of the wall groaned loudly and fell onto the floor with a cloud of dust. Both teens stared at the opening with open mouths, not processing what had just happened. Then, almost reluctantly, Saelind jerked away from the boy beside her and headed over to the hole.

She blinked when she saw a set of stairs.

"No way," Saelind muttered, furrowing her brows and bolting up the stairs. "Are you kidding me?!"

"What is it?!" Nekozawa happily called, making the girl feel as though he were enjoying this. "Is it another skeleton?! Or maybe a floating specter?!"

"No, you creepy beanpole, it's the way out!" she snapped, voice coming back almost muffled. "Come on, let's get out of here already! I wanna go back to the school, change out of this godawful dress, and go home already. This has been... too much for me."

Nekozawa wordlessly glided along the floor, but just as he was leaving, he felt two small hands on his shoulders and halted.

A cold breath of wind whispered past his ears and he felt calmer somehow... almost safe in an odd way.

"We'll come back," Nekozawa stated calmly, staring ahead with stoic blue-grey eyes. "Don't worry."

Before he could blink, the pressure on his shoulders vanished and he felt warm again. Slowly turning his head, he gave a crooked smile to the darkness before heading up the stairs after Saelind. The two of them then made their way back to Ouran Academy... only to find that it had been locked up, with no way for them to get back inside. For a long moment, the two of them merely stood in front of the gates, staring at it in dismay.

"Uhhh..." Saelind droned, gazing at the gates before glancing down at herself. "This isn't good."

"You're right," Umehito stated simply, nodding in synchronicity with his Beelzenef puppet. "I've been locked out, as well... and since I didn't take my medication, when the sun comes up, I very well may die of radiation poisoning."

"W-what?!" the dark-haired girl squeaked, whipping around to stare at him in shock. "What the fuck did you just say?!"

"I'm allergic to sunlight," Umehito explained, giving her a creepy smile. "More accurately, I'm allergic to ultraviolet rays."

"W-wait a second, shouldn't you, like, have a key or something?!" Saelind hissed, staring at him with a large eye. "Ya know, to open the gates?!"

"No," Nekozawa chuckled, looking at the sky and gauging the time. "I don't... but it's not life threatening for me. The gates open at seven, so there'll be plenty of time for me to get inside... I'll just have to stay awake all night so I don't miss it, that's all."

"That's not healthy," the girl deadpanned, giving him a serious frown. "You seriously plan on going to your classes on no sleep? At all?"

"Of course," the boy chuckled, glancing down at the kitty puppet and grinning when he made it nod. "We do it all the time."

Saelind was flabbergasted on how this kid had survived high school as long as he had.

"Follow me," she finally grunted, turning around and walking down the street, "and don't say a word."

Umehito Nekozawa did as he was instructed and followed her.

Thus, the two of them were off... gliding down the sidewalk like a couple of wraiths. They moved through the city until they made it to Saelind's apartment complex... but when they arrived, the girl strode up the stairs to her home and unlocked the door. Then she turned around and waved at Nekozawa, motioning for him to go inside.

"Ehhh?" he drawled, looking around in a slow manner when he did as he was instructed. "Where are we?"

"My apartment," Saelind grumbled, shutting the door and pulling the hood off. "I'm sorry, but I don't a futon... or even a bed of any variety. Nor do I have a blanket... but, it's sheltered from the sun in the mornings because of the building in front of my window. You're welcome to stay in here."

"Eh?!" he asked, glancing at her in shock. "What? But... that's improper! A guy and a girl can't... unless... right?!"

"Dumb ass," the Russian girl spat, making him cringe away from her. "Who said anything about me sleeping in here with you?! I'm going next door!"

"Eh?" Nekozawa asked, blinking when the exhausted-looking girl swept out the door and slammed it shut. "_Nani... ga?_"

Saelind, meanwhile, stomped down she stairs and swept over to the building Haruhi lived in. Then, without even bothering to knock, she kicked the door open and sleepily walked across the floor. However, instead of looking alarmed or offended, Ranka merely gave her a pleasantly startled expression.

"Oh, Saelind-chan!" he squealed, looking her up and down before covering his mouth. "You... you're into crossdressing, too?!"

"Can it, Tranny," the girl grumbled, walking down the hall and ignoring how he giggled in response. "I'm going to sleep in Haruhi's room tonight. _Oyasumi._"

Thus, without any politeness whatsoever, she threw the brunette's door open and ignored how she jumped up from her desk.

"S-Saelind?!" Haruhi stammered, staring at her with round amber eyes. "U-um... what are you doing?!"

"Using your floor for the night," the girl hissed, looking for all the world like a snake. "You even think of coming near me tonight, I will bite you. Never speak of this situation again... god only knows it's your stupid club's fault this is happening, anyway."

So saying, she shrugged off the cloak, padded off into the corner, and sank down onto the floor.

Then she curled up into a little ball and plopped her head on the floor.

Within seconds, she was asleep, leaving a baffled Haruhi Fujioka standing in the middle of the room with no clue as to what the hell was going on.


	24. Chapter 23: Nothing Gold Can Stay

**Author's note: **Sorry it took so long to get this chapter uploaded! Been busy with work and COLLEGE! YAAAY! Got accepted into Juliard, so I'm gonna have my hands full, but don't worry! I will NEVER abandon my stories, so look forward to updates. This also took a while since I wanted to complete the new story cover that Saelind herself asked me to draw a while back. :D Finally finished it, Sae! Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Nothing Gold Can Stay**

_It was dark… ever so dark._

_Saelind slowly opened her eyes and blinked as the dream began to play in front of her… she saw two dark-haired infants sitting together in a monstrous playroom with adoring adults all over the place. One of the twins was being hugged and tickled by the adults, while the other merely sat at the opposite end of the room and watched the them play with her thumb in her mouth. She watched not her parents, but her brother with happy aquamarine eyes._

_Soon after… the image faded, and she saw a snippet of her and Saelavan at the age of four: the black-haired boy was sitting at an enormous birthday table inside the grand ball room with over a hundred smiling faces sitting around him. Saelind was standing in the farthest corner with her hands folded neatly, like always; then Saelavan blew out the candles, and everyone cheered. When their mother and father handed the boy his presents, he shot a look at Saelind._

_The Duchess quickly tried to divert his attention away from the girl, but it didn't work._

_"Why didn't Lindy get any presents, Mommy?" the little boy asked in Russian, looking confused. _"It's her birthday, too."_  
_

_The girl's eyes lit up when several people blinked in confusion and looked at her with skeptical expressions._

_"Don't worry, Munchkin, Saelind doesn't need them," the woman giggled, putting a slice of cake on his plate. "Extras don't play with toys."_

_The festive party continued, but nobody even noticed when a sad little girl left the room._

_Saelind instantly closed her eye and the darkness returned._

_Ever since that day, the people around her had practically forgotten she was alive aside from her brother. _

_Then, everything had changed the day before their sixth birthday._

_Saelind had been playing on the park swings by herself: she had been wearing a checkered dress and a pair of dusty black shoes, since her parents always bought her clothes from a thrift store. Then, out of the blue, Saelavan had walked up to her and tapped her from behind._

_"Hey, Lindy!" Saelavan exclaimed with a smile. "L_et's play together!"_  
_

_She'd looked at him over her shoulder in confusion from the swing set._

_"No," the little girl murmured, turning back around with irritable teal eyes. "You go play with Mommy and Daddy. I don't want to play with you."_

_"But I want to play with you, Lindy," Saelavan laughed, moving forward and staring at her with an eager smile. "Please?"_

_"Go away!" Saelind shrieked, getting off the swing and pushing him down; the little boy's eyes widened and he looked startled when his sister started crying and glared down at him in anger. "I hate you the most, Vanny! You have everything! You have Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and all the maids and butlers! You have everything, so go away and leave me alone forever!"_

_"I-I have everything?" the little boy stammered, looking stunned._

_"Yes! Because you steal everything from me!" the little girl wailed, sinking down to her knees and burying her face in her hands. "You stole all the candy, all the ice cream, all the cake, all the new toys, all the pretty clothes, and all the happy birthdays! You stole parades with Mommy, cooking food with Daddy, baking cookies with grandma, and saying goodbye to grandpa at his funeral! You have everything, and I... I never have anything! It's your fault Mommy and Daddy don't love me! I hate you!"_

_Saelind finally trailed off and broke down into tears, but she was startled when her brother crawled over and pulled her into a hug; she felt him shaking and heard him crying, as well, but she didn't know why he was acting so sad when he had everything she'd always wanted._

_"I'm sorry..." he hiccuped, letting out a sob and clutching the back of her dress with his little fists. "I'm s-sorry..."_

_"Saelavan?" Saelind whimpered, anger fading into guilt when he burst into tears. "W-why are you crying?"  
_

_"I'm sorry for stealing everything!" her brother wailed, sobbing against her shoulder. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't hate me! Please!"  
_

_For a long moment, Saelind had felt stunned... but then, little face screwing up, she had burst into tears as well. __Ever since that day, Saelavan had given her half of everything he received from their parents, and if he couldn't split it somehow then he wouldn't accept the gift. Each day after that meltdown was spent with him giving her half of everything he had, and because of that she had actually come to love her twin brother because of his kindness._

_He was the only one who'd truly cared._

"- aelind?" _a distant voice murmured. _"Hey, are you crying?"

_Before she could process the shift in her memories, she saw her mother glaring down at her with cold fury: the walls of the hospital room were all around her.._

_"You're worse than useless," she hissed like a snake, rending her heart in two. "I never should have given birth to you."_

With a violent jolt, Saelind's eye snapped open wide and she gasped, frantically looking around with a palpitating heart.

Her breathing was ragged and uneven as she took in her surroundings. After a few moments of trying to calm herself down and figure out where she was, the Russian girl slowly sat up and touched her forehead: her long hair was plastered to her cheeks and neck due to the cold sweat that had enveloped her entire body, and for some reason, she was wearing a very unflattering black dress that had been crumpled up with wrinkles during the night.

"Where am I…?" Saelind whispered hoarsely, feverishly rubbing her eye. "Why am I not in my bedroom...?"

"Hurry and _get_ _up!"_ a familiar voice panted, making her jump in surprise. "Hurry! Get these clothes on! I couldn't find your uniform!"

Before Saelind could process what was happening, someone threw a pair of skinny jeans and a familiar dark-green hoodie at her face. Then, just as she lifted her arms to peel them off, she was dragged to her feet and forcibly shoved into a bathroom. After a moment of flailing around, the girl jerked the clothes off her head and blinked at them in confusion. They were hers, but how they'd gotten here, she couldn't say.

It was weird.

"What's going on?" Saelind called, grumpily trying to wake her groggy mind up. "Hello?"

"Just get dressed and hurry up!" the familiar voice called back. "We need to get going!"

For a moment, the Russian girl merely closed her tired eye and tried to think past her sleepiness.

Then, against her better judgement, she slipped the black dress off, undid her tangled hair, and changed into the outfit she'd been given. Once she was dressed, she folded the clothes up and headed out of the washroom. Not even a foot in front of her was Haruhi, standing against the wall with folded arms. Saelind halted and blinked in glazed confusion when she realized where she was: Haruhi Fujioka's apartment.

Yet another mystery.

"What the hell happened to me yesterday?" she wondered, blinking rapidly before shaking her head. "Did I sleepwalk over here?"

"Yes, you did, with quite little fanfare I should add," Haruhi dryly retorted, looking just as groggy as she felt. "Are you ready? If so, let's get going."

"Where?" Saelind stupidly asked, still half asleep. "What's going on?"

"School, Saelind: Ouran Academy," Haruhi muttered, yawning and ignoring how Saelind's eye popped open wide. "You literally walked in here on your own last night, remember? I have to admit, when I walked over to your place and saw Nekozawa sleeping in your bathtub, I almost had a heart attack."

Saelind merely stared at her with her mouth hanging open, unable to process half of what she'd just said.

"Um... what?" she asked, barely able to keep her eye open. "Sorry, could you repeat all that in stupid people language? Who was sleeping in what bathtub?"

"Ugh, never mind: I'll explain when you're not drunk off your own exhaustion!" the girl mumbled, grabbing her arm and dragging her down the hall towards the entrance of the apartment. The girl stumbled a bit, but she did take the opportunity to glance around as she was pulled down the stairs. Ranka was waiting in front of the gate, tapping his watch and nervously looking around. When he spotted them, however, he squealed in delight.

"Oh, Lord, Saelind-chan looks so cute today!" the tranny exclaimed, wriggling all over. "Green is your spirit color!"

"Shut up, creeper," Saelind grumbled, letting out another yawn as she and Haruhi walked past. "I don't even think you know how weird you sound when you say crap like that. And anyway, I always look the same since I only have one outfit."

"Oh, be nice!" Ranka scolded, waving at the two of them as they started jogging down the street. "And have a good day!"

Sadly, days at Ouran were never good for Saelind, and today proved to be no different. She literally conked out after second period since she was grumpy, sleepy, and irritable for reasons unknown to her. However, for once, shockingly, Haruhi was actually feeling a little grumpy herself: sitting in the classroom, her amber eyes felt heavy and weighed down since the teacher's normally intriguing monotone was actually lulling her to sleep. Last night had been one of the rare sleepless ones that came out of nowhere, since she'd been unaccustomed to having someone sleep in her room.

Plus, she was utterly exhausted since Saelind had started talking in her sleep immediately after she was out, and it lasted until four in the morning.

Translation?

She was dead tired.

After a long while, her head finally thumped down on her desk and she conked out, snoring softly.

She remained that way until the bell tower signaled the end of the school day: then the mischievous twins got up and casually slinked over.

"Haruhi?" Kaoru asked, gently poking her shoulder with confused eyes. "Weird... is she asleep?"

"She _never_ sleeps in class," Hikaru muttered, glancing at his brother with raised eyebrows before he poked her as well. "Come on, Haruhi, wake up! Class is over!"

"Mnmnnnm…" Haruhi mumbled into her sleeve before slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes; there was a bit of drool on her chin when she blinked at them. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" the twins asked simultaneously, instantly flashing all around her and inspecting her like a pair of doctors. "Sleeping in class isn't normal for you."

After tiredly looking around, Haruhi was surprised to notice that most of the students were already packed up and heading out the door.

"I'm fine, I just kinda had a long night," she replied with a yawn, rubbing her mouth with an embarrassed flush before scratching at her hair with glazed brown eyes. "Saelind-chan kind of slept over last night, since Nekozawa-senpai got locked out of the school and spent the night sleeping in her bathroom. I don't exactly know what happened between them, but she was an angry wreck, even in her sleep. The aftereffects were exhausting."

The twins blinked in synchronicity and stared at each other with blank expressions.

"Weird," Hikaru sighed, rubbing his chin with a pondering expression. "I would have thought the two of them would have hit it off."

"Eh?" Haruhi deadpanned, staring at him with a 'wtf' expression. "You can't be serious."

"No, really!" Hikaru sighed, giving a pointed shrug before he folded his arms. "They have similar preferences when it comes to social interacting, they both act dark and creepy sometimes, and they both like to do stuff that doesn't involve talking to people."

"Speaking of Nekozawa, we haven't actually seen him at all today," Kaoru murmured, frowning slightly before he glanced at Saelind; he blinked and nudged his brother when he realized that the black-haired girl was snoring on her desk just like Haruhi had been only a few seconds ago. "You said she was so angry that she stayed that way even in her sleep, right? It makes me wonder how bad their blind date went yesterday."

"Well, we'll find out during the interviews," Hikaru sighed, patting his brother's arm. "Mine went splendidly, and I hope for nothing less than the best review!"

"Same here!" Kaoru laughed, hooking his arm through his brother's and grinning at Haruhi. "We'll be given reviews by the people we escorted last night!"

Before Haruhi could even manage to let out a sigh of dismay, Ami walked into the room and smiled secretively at Haruhi before walking over to Saelind. The skinnier brunette scowled and folded her arms when Ami tapped the Russian girl's arm. The black-haired girl started and flew into an upright position, but when Ami giggled and started talking to her about something Haruhi couldn't hear, her glazed eyes slid to the latter's face.

Haruhi sighed when she realized that Saelind could barely understand what was being said to her.

Truthfully, she looked more than a little zombified, and her eyes were cloudy with irritation and sleep-deprivation.

"We should probably get to the Host Club now," Haruhi finally sighed, hefting her bags. "Things are probably gonna be busy, what with the interviews."

"Exactly!" the twins chorused, grinning like foxes. "Let's go, Haruhi!"

So saying, the identical duo happily dragged the sleepy brunette out the door by her arms.

Not long after, Ami helped Saelind carry her things down the hall to the music room.

Sadly, the Russian girl was still having trouble processing things, and even when the girls started pouring in and requested to sit with her, she felt as though her mind were in a fog. Questions were asked, but she answered them almost robotically, without even processing what they were about. She was asked about her family, which made her glare, but aside from that things went rather smoothly. Soon, she would be able to go home and sleep on her tatami mats... it never sounded so wonderful. Eventually, the girls began to leave, and the people who'd won the dating raffle began to file in.

She barely heard the interviews or the clapping cheers as the dates were described by the candidates who'd been escorted.

She DID, however, feel a little surprised by the fact that Kyouya had convinced some hapless girl that he was Mr. Prince Charming by taking her to a french diner and treating her to the most expensive night out ever in all the history of idiots. However, once Tamaki's date had described her time out, Saelind knew she was home free: she was just about to pack her things and run for freedom when a familiar hooded figure plopped down in front of her and flipped a book open, without a care in the world. Saelind's mind snapped wide awake and her eyes locked on his face.

It all made sense in that moment: she always got extremely sleepy after having a bad experience.

It was her body's way of telling her that she wanted to forget something had ever happened.

When she narrowed her eyes and hissed like a snake, revealing the glint of her fangs, Tamaki let out a squeal and jumped behind the couch.

From there, he started eyeing the hooded figure and the Russian girl with large blue eyes.

"What are you doing here, Nekozawa-Senpai?!" Haruhi asked, glancing at him in surprise just as she walked past with a tray of empty teacups. "I thought you were absent."

"Indeed," he murmured, chuckling before his kitty puppet turned the page of his book and clapped. "I was."

"Then why are you here?" Saelind demanded, giving him a flinty-eyed expression; everyone glanced at her when the boy looked up, and even Kyouya's eyes lifted from what they were doing to focus on the scene in front of him. "After what you put me through last night, the last thing I need is a reminder of how much I hate you."

Everyone experienced mixed reactions to her statement: all of the host club girls gasped, the twins whistled with intrigued eyes, Haruhi dropped the tray in horror, Tamaki went rigid, Honey looked around in confusion, Kyouya furrowed his brows, Ami blinked and covered her mouth, and Mori... well, oddly enough, the only reaction he seemed to have was that his eyes narrowed a little.

Nekozawa, however, merely chuckled in amusement.

"And here I thought we had a splendid time," he stated in an almost teasing manner, making the girl's shoulders stiffen in outrage. "It was a lot of fun, wasn't it?"

If looks could kill, Umehito would have been burned to a crisp.

"What did you do to him?" the twins simultaneously asked, walking over and circling the hooded boy like a vulture. "Come on, tell us! It sounds interesting!"

"I took him to an abandoned house in the middle of the woods," Nekozawa droned, making everyone's eyes widen, "and then... we got _locked_ in a _cellar_ by a _ghost!"_

Everyone blinked and did a double take before glancing at Saelind... just in time to see her shiver violently and let out a grumbling noise of dismay.

"I don't know what happened last night: I can't explain it," she grunted, ignoring the eyes on her. "All I really know is that I never want to go through something like that ever again."

"As you wish," Nekozawa murmured, flipping the page once again and silently going back to reading. "As for my review, I found it to be very insightful and amusing, in several different ways. All in all, I had a rather wonderful time."

"Well, that's a good thing!" Tamaki cheered, throwing his arms up and looking around. "Right? Right?"

Nobody answered him, and a cold wind blew through the music room.

Embarrassed, the blonde slowly shrank down and scuttled off into the corner.

Then, everyone resumed their own activities and Saelind put her head down, unable to fall asleep.

_Awkward, awkward, awkward…_ she chanted silently, eyebrow twitching when Umehito calmly turned another page of his book. When she thought back to the incident in the house and recalled the moment when his lips had collided with hers, her face flamed bright red and her muscles jumped before she could control herself. _ Why did I have to think about that?! Stop it, brain! It wasn't a kiss!_

Feeling her ears burning, the girl sat up and rubbed her cheeks, feeling out of sorts.

_"_Whoa," Ami suddenly murmured, walking over with concerned eyes. "Saelind-chan, your face is bright red... like, for real. Do you have a fever?"

"N-no! I'm perfectly fine!" the girl squeaked, burying her face in her arms. "It's nothing at all, okay?!"

"Well, if you say so," Ami murmured, folding her hands as the concerned expression was replaced by a blank one. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Saelind yapped, voice muffled by her sleeve. "I get it."

_Idiot! I must be getting too comfortable here if I'm becoming so careless!_ she mentally scolded herself, scowling at her own stupidity. Naturally, she'd never let anyone see her doing something as embarrassing as blushing. Minutes began to pass, so she stared blankly at the wall, silently hoping she could speed up the paint-peeling process by burning holes in it with her eyes. She wanted to go home, but the Host Club was performing an overnight stay to deal with some decoration issues.

Turning her gaze away from the wall after a moment, she studied Nekozawa and saw that he was still reading.

Then her thoughts turned to his physical appearance and she slowly began to wonder what she knew about yin and yang.

She knew that they were opposite, equal, and balanced—opposite as in female and male, dark and light, and so on. She also knew that because they formed together they were equal, and one couldn't exist without the other. Meaning, the yin couldn't exist without the yang, and the yang cannot exist without the yin. Dropping her thoughts, she looked at the wall—but was dismayed to see that not even a single paint chip had begun to peel.

The wall looked the same as it had a few hours earlier: nothing had changed.

"Peel, damn it!" she squeaked in aggravation at the wall.

Everyone looked up at her with curious expressions, which made her face flame bright red; they were probably wondering whether or not she was going insane.

Saelind rolled her eyes and shook her head dismissively in a "forget it" sort of way before she put her head down again.

However, it wasn't very long before she couldn't take dealing with the boredom anymore.

"Jesus Christ!" she cried angrily, throwing her tiny hands up into the air. "I'm too fucking bored!"

"Watch your mouth," Kyouya stated bluntly from across the room, throwing a quick glare at her.

"Yes, Mother…" Saelind retorted sarcastically, knowing that the response would irritate him.

"You need to stop acting like a child," he responded nonchalantly, not bothering to look up from his record book again.

"Yes, Mother…" she snapped again, face smoothing out in amusement.

"Stop it," Kyouya ordered, closing his book in annoyance. "Stop acting foolish."

By this point, everyone was staring at the two of them with slack jaws.

"Yes, mo—" Saelind tried to respond.

"Say it again and you'll regret it," he interrupted.

"Mo—"

"Shh!"

"Mo—"

"Don't!"

"Mo—"

"Sael-chaaaaan!" Honey happily squealed, tearing across the room with gleeful eyes. "You're acting funny today! Do you want to play a word game with me?!"

"ACK!" Saelind squeaked, eyes becoming huge when he lunged at her with outstretched hands. She was out of the chair before anyone could register the movement, so Honey went skidding across the floor on his belly. "Don't just jump at me like that! Jesus!"

Before anything else could be said, however, a beautiful sound split the air and everyone paused. It was a muffled voice, singing something in a foreign language. Saelind's eye went blank and she froze where she was standing... then, lowering her hand to her pocket, she felt around and blinked when she felt a lump. Her eyes widened and she instantly pulled her cellphone out, staring at it with a baffled expression.

Then she read the caller ID and her face turned so white that it became almost see-through.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Tamaki asked, peering at her with confused blue eyes. "Someone's calling you."

Saelind couldn't respond.

Her eye was fixed on the caller ID.

After a moment, she closed her eyes, flipped it open... and snapped it shut yet again.

Everyone blinked in surprise when she pocketed the phone and turned to sit down, but the phone began to ring yet again, making her jump.

When she jerked it back out of her pocket, the same caller ID flashed across the screen, and her lip curled in outrage.

"Stupid woman," she hissed, turning the phone off and slamming it down on the table. "Stop calling me."

"Saelind-chan?" Haruhi asked, looking up from where she was cleaning the mess she'd made. "Are you all right?"

"Why is my phone in my pocket?" she demanded, making Haruhi blink. "I never take my phone with me anywhere. How did it get here?"

"Oh, uh... I put it there since I thought you might need it," the brunette explained, making her eyebrow twitch. "It's always safer to have one on you, just in case."

"Whatever," Saelind muttered, tilting her head back with a grim expression. "Don't ever touch my things without permission."

With that, she let her head smack the table and closed her eyes, not wanting to think about anything.

For her, life just seemed to be getting worse and worse.

Especially since she knew now that her mother was trying to get a hold of her.

_Trust is Betrayal in disguise,_ she muttered, staring at the table with the sting of repressed tears behind her eye. _I won't let you fool me again. I swear it._


	25. Chapter 24: In Sickness

**Chapter Twenty-Four: In Sickness**

After the events of the previous day, Saelind's life progressively began to worsen.

Her phone wouldn't stop ringing, her irritation level had tripled, and to make matters worse, after the fourth day of enduring the Host Club's typical drama-filled situations, she discovered that someone very shady-looking was following her around. She only noticed him on her way back to her apartment because of a mistake, but a mistake like that was more of a blessing to someone with her type of upbringing. Simply because it alerted her to the fact that a man in dark clothing was watching her from across the street.

Still, despite her uneasiness, Saelind merely rolled her eyes and continued on home.

Nothing happened after that, but... well, the next day, she got dressed up and walked outside.

And halfway to Ouran Academy, she spotted him again.

For nearly a week and a half, her anxiety began to build... until the day finally came where she snapped.

If there was one thing she hated more than anything, it was feeling cornered... but because of her situation, that's the position she'd been in constantly.

Her mother was calling like a doomsday siren, the host club was blackmailing her into doing what they wanted, and now, some creep was stalking her. She couldn't even properly lock her door at night since there was only a flimsy metal chain to provide protection. Forget a new door, she couldn't even buy furniture for herself since her funds didn't cover household appliances or clothes: if she needed something, she would have been forced to contact her parents... and that was NOT happening.

Ever.

So, Saelind did the only thing she could and started sprinting towards Ouran: the one thing she needed to do was talk to Kyouya, because for all she knew, he'd told someone to keep an eye on her. However... she was about halfway to school when she heard an unfamiliar voice call her name.

"Saelind Heseroph?!" someone shouted, making the black-haired teen jump. "Is that you?! Hey!"

The girl immediately whirled around, looking at the crowd standing on the sidewalk behind her.

"What do you want?!" she groused, making several people stare at her. "Did someone call me?"

When she had no luck spotting the person who'd called, she shrugged and turned to cross the street.

However, she'd been so busy trying to spot the person who'd called her that she didn't realize the light had turned green. The next thing she heard was screeching tires and a deafening car horn blaring in her ears. Saelind whirled around and froze like a deer in the headlights when she spotted the oncoming truck, pupil dilating and teal eye widening in terror. Then the metallic bumper struck her and her legs crumpled, sending the girl rolling across the concrete.

Several screams of horror and alarm filled the air when her body finally came to a halt: she simply lay face-down, not moving.

A chubby brown-haired girl wearing glasses had been struggling to make her way through the crowd when the accident had happened.

"S-Saelind-chan?!" Ami shouted, eyes growing wide in horror; she instantly pushed her way past the gawking people and ran into the street, shoving aside the terrified woman who'd just stepped out of her car. "Saelind-chan! Saelind, are you all right?! Come on, Saelind, wake up! Open your eyes!"

When the yellow-clad girl gently rolled her tiny body over, her teal eye was closed and the front of her uniform had been torn open. Ami's breath hitched when she saw a puncture wound on the burned side of the girl's abdomen, and for a long moment, she didn't know what to do; then the brunette did the smart thing and checked for a pulse. A steady rhythm met her fingers, which made her racing heart calm down a bit.

Slowly lifting her head and looking at the crowd, she waved and let out a relieved laugh.

"She's alright!" Ami called, letting out an unconscious sigh of relief. "She only passed out from the shock..."

A huge cheer slid up and down the sidewalk as Ami pulled out her cell phone and made to dial 110 for an ambulance, just to be safe.

However, around that moment, Saelind dizzily opened her eye and blinked in a groggy manner.

"What happened?" the Russian girl groaned, shaking her head. "I feel... ow..."

"You just got hit by a truck," Ami stated sourly, shooting her an alarmingly cold glare. "The ambulance will be here soon... I'm calling for one right now."

Like the snap of a whip, Saelind's dazed eye sharpened in with lucidity and she snatched the phone clean out of Ami's hands.

The Asian girl blinked when she flicked it shut.

"I'm fine, Ami..." Saelind stated coldly, shaking her head when the brunette gaped at her; after a moment, she shakily got to her feet and stood up, glancing down at her torn blazer before rubbing her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears. "I don't deal with hospitals for several personal reasons. I... I'm a little busy right now, and I still have to get to school... thank you for the concern, but I think I can handle myself from here on out."

"Eh?!" Ami scoffed, watching as she turned to leave. "You can't be serious! Saelind, you just got hit by a _truck_! And plus, your stomach... how are you all right?!"

"I just am!" the black-haired girl retorted, shaking her head before buttoning her blazer. "Don't worry so much! I'll see you at school!"

With that, she ignored the woman who was waiting to apologize and took off across the street at top speed, adjusting her hair as she went.

However, when she got to school, the first place she went to was the Host Club since she was still a little early and that's where everyone hung out. When she walked up and explained to Kyouya why her blazer had been torn, she hadn't expected to see so much concern being directed at her. Especially not from him. He still gave her a new blazer, though, which was nice... although, the minor add-on to her Host Club quota was irritating.

Still, it was in that moment that Saelind finally decided to bring up the topic that was eating away at her.

"Hey, I need to ask you something," she stated seriously, making Kyouya flick his eyes up. "Did you ask one of your employees to keep an eye on me?"

He quirked an eyebrow at the question and tilted his head.

"And why on earth would I do a thing like that?" he inquired, looking fairly unamused. "You may be rather a dark and bitter human being, but you're hardly untrustworthy. Do you really think I would waste my funding on something as petty as that?"

"Not when you put it like that," she sourly retorted, grabbing her back and ignoring the pain in her gut. "Thanks anyway, though."

"I admit, it's rather peculiar for you to ask me a thing like that," Kyouya noted, examining her when she stiffened. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

"Not at all," the girl muttered, giving him a wave. "Thanks."

The rest of that day passed by rather smoothly, and on her way home, she didn't catch a single glimpse of the strange man.

However, the next morning, things took a horrible turn.

Saelind had no idea how she made it from her apartment to school: all she could remember was sitting at her desk and putting her head down since her stomach was twisting violently. After that, things around her started blurring as the nausea set in. After each class came and went, she slowly dragged herself up from the desk and moved to her next class, legs completely unsteady. By lunchtime, every few steps she took made her so dizzy that she had to stop walking and breathe deeply so she wouldn't throw up or faint.

After school was over, however, making her way to the abandoned music room was the most horrible thing she ever did. It took her three tries before she even managed to fully unlock the door, which told her just how bad it was. She blinked a bit when she saw the twins teasing their clients about something one of them had done: the rest of the club was already engrossed in their conversations with the girls. Several squeals of delight met her ears when she saw the girls who normally requested her sitting at the usual table.

"He's here!" someone cried. "See?! I told you he was probably just running late!"

Putting her hand on the door frame, Saelind barely kept herself from swaying back and forth... but when Mori looked up from the guests and his eyes landed on her, his eyes abruptly widened. When he bolted upright and hurried in her direction, Saelind blinked and everyone turned to stare. The Russian girl, however, flamed bright red when one enormous arm swooped around her back; the other was used to press the back of his hand against her forehead. The girl stuttered like a startled chicken when his eyes sharpened.

"You're sick," he said, supporting her weight when her legs finally buckled. "Really sick."

"It's just a bug… so get off, ya creeper!" she squalled, weakly pushing him away and staggering over to her table so she could get everything over with. "It'll go away! Sheesh... talk about melodramatic."

Once she was sitting down, however, the girls sort of meshed together and looked at her with puppy eyes.

"Are you sure you're all right, Heseroph-sama?" one of them, she couldn't quite distinguish which, asked. "You... you don't look very healthy."

"Yep," the Russian girl grumbled, closing her eyes to block out the buzzing fluorescent lights. "I'm… just… fine…"

"Uh... you're only okay if 'fine' means 'about to upchuck,'" Haruhi stated seriously, glancing up from where she was sitting with her own guests. "Seriously, if you're not feeling well, you should let us know beforehand and take a day off."

Just because it was true didn't mean she was going to admit it.

"I'm fine," Saelind repeated, speaking a little quieter than before. "Now, can we start talking about something else before I die of migraine?"

However, before anyone could respond, her head slumped forward and she slowly started to nod off: two seconds after she closed her visible eye, she fell dead asleep and everyone stared in awe. After a moment, the twins stood up and waltzed over with their fans behind them, and with great hesitance, they poked the sleeping Russian.

"Talk about an Insta-snooze," Kaoru murmured, blinking rapidly. "I've never seen someone fall asleep that fast. Ever."

"How do you think he would react if we just carried him down to the clinic?" Hikaru asked, glancing at his twin. "Got any ideas about how bad his reaction would be? What do you think he would do?"

"Murder us in our sleep?" Hikaru playfully suggested, then glanced at the girl's pale face before he cringed a bit. "That, or purposely throw up on you?"

"Now is not the time to be joking!" Tamaki gallantly exclaimed, hurrying over. "Our comrade is genuinely sick, is he not?!"

"I think he really might be," Haruhi worriedly murmured, feeling the girl's forehead. "He's feverish, and the contrast between his hair and skin is scary. He looks... well, bad as it's going to sound, he looks half dead. He was already extremely pale to begin with."

"Is he okay?" one of the girls in yellow asked, clasping her hands with a worried look. "Really, is Heseroph-san okay?"

Tamaki instantly went into Prince Mode.

"Of course, my dear," he stated gently, sweeping her off her feet, "if only because _we_ are all looking after him."

The girls instantly let out a myriad of squeals, but when Saelind twitched and mumbled something in a grumpy tone, Haruhi pressed a finger to her lips and shushed them.

"Shhh!" she murmured quietly. "He's sleeping!"

"I think someone should volunteer to take him home," Kyouya finally intervened, not looking up from his guide. "He obviously isn't feeling well, and in this state, he can't spend time mingling with his usual guests. It's unfortunate, but I think we should let him rest for a while.."

"I'll do it," Mori immediately droned, making everyone glance at him; then he looked at Honey. "Mitsukuni."

"Yes, sir!" the blonde exclaimed, scampering up his leg until he was sitting on the giant's shoulders. "Let's take our friend home!"

When Mori swept the Russian girl into his arms and slowly turned to leave the room, several girls blushed since the sight was positively blinding: it was almost as if rose petals were falling all around them. Mori carried Saelind and Honey to the car that Kyouya had called, but just before they left, Haruhi came running outside and tapped on the window.

Honey eagerly rolled the window down and waved at her.

"Hi, Haru-chan!" he giggled. "Did we forget something?"

"I just wanted to tell you guys to take Saelind over to my place instead of her own," the brunette panted, obviously out of breath. "The environment she lives in isn't ideal for someone who's sick. If you could put her to sleep on my futon until club activities end, I'd really appreciate it."

"We'll take care of her," Mori stated simply. "Don't worry."

With that, the window was rolled back up and Saelind was driven to Haruhi's apartment.

They managed to get her settled in without too much trouble since she was totally out of it.

Once they did, however, there was nothing to do but wait.

It was almost time for Haruhi to arrive when Saelind's health started worsening: up until that point, the girl had been out cold... but just before five in the afternoon, she unexpectedly lunged up from Haruhi's futon and barely managed to grab the wastebasket next to her desk before tossing up her lunch. Honey gasped and ran out of the room with a squeal, but Mori had instantly walked over to check on the girl. In truth, Saelind looked horrible: her long black hair was plastered against her skin and her teal eye was glazed over. Frankly, her ashen appearance startled him more than the fact that she was violently throwing up.

"You all right?" Mori asked calmly, sitting down and gently resting a hand against the girl's slender neck; her skin was on fire.

"Just a bug," Saelind mumbled weakly, wiping her mouth without noticing that the giant was actually touching her; a heartbeat later she stiffened and turned back to the plastic trashcan, but after a moment she stilled and let out a sigh of relief. "Yup... false alarm."

"C'mon, we're taking you to a Hospital," Mori stated, grabbing the Russian girl's skinny arm and pulling her to her feet. .

"Go 'way," Saelind mumbled, shivering all over; Mori frowned, feeling the shiver through his grip on the girl's arm. "It's just... a bug."

"This isn't just a bug," the Japanese boy muttered, instantly feeling concerned. "There's something wrong with you."

"It is too a bug, so I'm not going to this high and mighty hospital," the girl mumbled incoherently, struggling to stay in one spot when Mori started dragging her toward the door using only one hand. The giant sighed in frustration and pressed his lips together when his patience finally snapped: fed up with the tiny girl's attitude, he turned and stared her down with the same stern expression he'd given Honey before he'd gotten a toothache

"Start walking," he commanded sharply. "Right now."

Something in his tone made Saelind blink and turn even whiter than she already was.

There was no more fighting after that... so, after leaving a note for Haruhi and cleaning up the waste bin, they left the room and went outside. Honey hurried to keep up when they walked down the stairs and made their way down the sidewalks: within only ten minutes, they made it to the Hospital. After explaining the situation to the clerk sitting behind the counter, they were given a pass to the emergency floor. However, Saelind's anxiety spiked through the roof, especially when since she was too dizzy to run away if anything happened. Not aware of her feelings, Mori hit the button for the elevator, but his hand tightened on her arm when the girl tried to walk past him.

"Hey," he grunted, looking at her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Stairs," Saelind replied, pointing at the door at the end of the hall with a confused expression. "It's the most logical way of going up and down."

"No way!" Honey squealed, amber eyes wide. "You'll fall and hurt yourself, Sael-chan! We should use the elevator!"

"I don't use elevators, ever," the girl stated, teal eye sharpening for a second. "I only take the stairs."

"Today, you'll need to make an exception," Mori replied; when the doors slid open, he pulled her in beside him, not really caring that the girl was desperately trying to tug free of him. However, when the doors slid closed and the car started to slide up, Saelind's breathing changed in an instant. It turned ragged so quickly that Honey and Mori glanced at her with varying expressions of concern.

The tiny girl had pressed herself against the wall of the elevator, small hands clenched tightly into fists.

Her visible eye was squeezed shut and she looked ready to cry; her face had turned even paler than before, almost a sickly bone-white.

"Sael... chan?" Honey stammered, looking extremely uneasy. "Are you okay?"

The Russian girl's teal eye opened, but her pupil was much too large.

"I'm fine," she hissed through her teeth. "I'm fine!"

She wasn't fine. An idiot could see that she wasn't fine. But before Mori could think of anything that might help, the girl let out a soft groan and slid gracelessly to the floor. Honey instantly squealed, and Mori's eyes snapped open wide in surprise: the girl had fainted in their care. When the elevator doors opened, Takeshi squatted a bit glanced down to think.

And froze.

There was blood staining front of the blazer she was wearing.

When he lifted up the edge of the girl's shirt, the giant nearly had a heart attack: a deep wound was bleeding profusely under her uniform, but what nearly made him throw up was the fact that it had become seriously infected. The injury was white around the edges and yellow fluid was oozing from the center: it looked grotesque, even more so because of all the burned flesh surrounding it. However, in places where the boy expected to see smooth skin... there were several scars that looked as though they had been made with a carving knife, and there were twelve puncture scars on Saelind's lower back that had most likely come from being stabbed… repeatedly.

And on her side, there was a bullet scar.

It was like the floor had dropped out from under Mori's feet: Saelind had been shot and stabbed by someone in the past, and judging by how many scars were on the girl's body, she'd been receiving injuries like these over a span of several years. He didn't know how long he sat there, but it wasn't until Honey tapped his arm that Mori realized they needed to go see the doctor.

"Is Sael-chan okay?" the blonde boy asked. "Takeshi, is she okay?"

Mori immediately immediately jerked the tiny girl's blazer back down; he couldn't have anyone knowing he was aware of those scars. He was kind of surprised he hadn't noticed them before, considering the girl had gone around practically topless for a day. After a few moments, the girl's eye fluttered and slid open, which made both boys let out a sigh.

"Wha' happened?" Saelind mumbled, obviously dazed from passing out. "'m I going deaf?"

"No, you fainted," Honey exclaimed; the girl's eye widened and she instantly shook her head, completely protesting the thought of ever doing something so embarrassing in front of them. "Your blood is rushing around."

"I did not faint, but I might've lost consciousness," the Russian girl corrected, and with a hand on the wall, she tried to push herself upright with all of her strength. She was struggling, though, so Mori gripped her arm and helped her the rest of the way up.

"Whatever you say," Honey murmured, watching his cousin get a firm grip on her shoulder. "Sounds the same to me."

When the dark-haired girl started to fall asleep standing up, though, Mori gently lifted her into his arms and carried her towards the emergency area with a deep frown. However, he was frowning deeply for a new reason entirely: the image of those ugly, twisted scars just wouldn't stop swirling around inside his mind. Who could have done something so awful to Saelind?

He didn't know.

Nor did he know that the girl's phone was ringing constantly back at her apartment, or even that frantic texts were filling up her email.


	26. Chapter 25: Fissures

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Fissures**

The summer breeze sweeping through Ouran Academy carried the soft scent of wet grass and late blooming flowers through the air, creating a relaxing aroma that soothed the nerves of anyone who had the fortune of being outside. The scent was particularly pleasing to Ami as she walked across the courtyard. She was heading over to keep an eye on Haruhi because of a request Kyouya had made. Apparently, she was going to accompany the brunette to Saelind's apartment, and once there, she was going to swipe the girl's phone. She didn't want to do it, but Kyouya had told her to, so he could take the blame for all she cared.

"I hate this job," she grumbled, rolling her shoulders with a sour expression before she smoothed it out with a girlish smile. "Haruhi-chan! Hey!"

"Huh?" the female club member mumbled, straightening up and turning to look at her. "Oh... hello Ami-san. Do you need something?"

Haruhi didn't seem particularly happy to see her, but Ami really couldn't care less: all she had to do was smile and act cute for people.

"Yes, actually," she stated with a giggled, folding her hands like a prim and proper lady. "I was wondering if I could come with you when you head home. I'm kind of worried about Sael-chan, so... I was hoping you would allow me to see her?"

Haruhi quirked an eyebrow and let out a small sigh.

"You can drop the act around me," she stated simply, going back to stuffing her things into her school bag. "I already know you have ulterior motives, so there's no point in trying to win me over now. Yes, you can come with me, but let's just say that I'll be keeping my eye on you."

Ami's eyebrow twitched and she let out a strained laugh, closing her eyes in irritation.

"Why, Haruhi-chan, how rude!" she chuckled, opening her eyes and revealing just how cold they were. "You of all people should know that Sael-chan is my best friend!"

"Only in name," the brunette retorted, giving her a sour look. "Seriously, find another way of blackmailing people, Ami: if you hurt Saelind in any shape or form, my reaction will be the least of your worries. She can be a scary human being."

"You call that _thing_ a human?" Ami snorted, mask breaking off in an instant. "Look, Saelind may be a lot of things, but I'd hardly call her human. She's not normal."

Haruhi jumped and stared at the girl with an open mouth, stunned to her core.

Then her eyes narrowed a little and she nodded.

"You're entitled to your own opinion," she muttered, hefting her bag and walking towards the gates, "but how others look at you for having it is another story. Ami, that statement you just made makes you seem less human than Saelind ever could be. Now, if you're coming, please don't talk: I'm not very pleased with your behavior at the moment, because I actually DO care for Saelind, and the fact that you're openly leading her on makes me angry."

Ami rolled her eyes, but she couldn't deny that the girl's words stung a bit. In truth, back when she'd thought Saelind was a boy, she'd been genuinely moved by everything that had been said to her. It had stirred something in her heart... and, in retrospect, maybe that's why she was so bitter towards the Russian Girl. She had been planning on asking Saelind to go out with her... she'd made chocolates and everything... but then, Tamaki had dropped the bomb by asking her to do this job. In that moment, she had felt genuinely led on and it had pissed her off.

Even though it wasn't really Saelind's fault, since she had never really stated what her gender was... it had still made Ami angry.

Still, if she did whatever she was told, her life would stay fairly normal and she wouldn't end up homeless before she could escape to college on Tamaki's money.

"I'm sorry for stating facts," Ami finally stated, turning her head with a sweet smile and glancing at the shorter brunette. "It's just, I really don't want to have anything to do with Saelind, or even Tamaki. I'm only doing this because I don't want to end up homeless before I turn eighteen."

"Are you serious?" Haruhi inquired, giving her a flat look. "I'd rather be honest and homeless than deceitful and filthy rich."

Nothing more was said after that, since her plans of irritating the girl had failed with flying colors. After dropping by the apartment, Haruhi was startled to see Ranka sitting in the kitchen mulling over a scrap of paper: the moment he noticed her, however, he jumped up and ran over with a womanly wail.

"Oh, Haruhi! You're all right!" he bawled, throwing his arms around his daughter and making Ami jump back; the girl was so startled that her glasses slipped off her nose and dangled from one ear. "When I read the note on the counter, I thought something horrible had happened to you! Are you okay?! Are you still sick?!"

"Huh?" the girl scoffed, pulling away and staring at him in confusion. "Oto-san, what are you talking about? What note?"

"The note!" Ranka exclaimed, fretfully flapping his hands before he turned and snatched the piece of paper off the table. "Oh, bother... here it is!"

"Let me see," she murmured, taking it from him and reading the contents. "'Heading to the hospital run by Kyouya's family. The fever's gone up and she's vomiting nonstop. Will return when able. Morinozuka.'"

"See?" Ranka sniffed, hugging her again. "I'm so glad you're all right!"

Haruhi, on the other hand, had turned bone white and gone stiff in her father's arms.

"Oto-san, this note wasn't about me!" the girl exclaimed, pushing him away and rushing over to her bedroom. "It was about Saelind!"

"Eh?" the tranny asked, sounding a little confused. "But Haruhi...!"

When Ranka followed her, Ami blinked and slipped out of the apartment before heading over to Saelind's place. After walking inside, she looked around and peeked in every room until she found a familiar cell phone with a bright red Angry Birds logo on the back. The girl's eyes went half-lidded as she stared at the red beaked fiend that was glaring at the world, and she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sad as it is," she mumbled, shaking her head, "her phone choice is kind of adorable since it meshes with her personality."

When she slipped back into Haruhi's apartment, the two were still bickering about Saelind's gender: it took another thirty minutes to actually get going after that, but once they did, Haruhi practically ran to the hospital. It was everything Ami could do just to keep up with the shorter girl. However, on her way inside the building, Ami noticed a man wearing dark glasses and a trench coat standing on the corner of the street.

He was looking up... at the hospital.

"Who the hell is that?" she wondered, frowning as she watched him; then she followed his gaze. "What's he looking at?"

However, when she found the source of his interest, her heart froze and she stopped running.

She could see Mori... he was talking to a middle-aged man wearing a white coat... and Honey was obviously beside him, because she could just make out the top of his familiar blonde head. The girl slowly lowered her eyes back to the man, but her heart skipped a beat when she realized that he was now gazing straight at her. Her eyes widened when he slipped his hand inside his jacket and kept it there. Feeling frightened and more than a little shaken up, the yellow-clad girl followed Haruhi and made her way up to the front desk.

"I'm sorry, sir," the receptionist stated calmly, addressing Haruhi with a firm visage. "I can't allow you to see the patient at this point in time unless you're directly related to her. It's against the code of conduct."

"Please, she's my friend!" Haruhi stammered, clenching her fists. "I have to see her!"

"Like I said," the Asian woman sighed, shaking her head, "I can't let you."

"Hello, Ma'am," Ami charmingly intervened, folding her hands like a proper young lady. "May I just explain something?"

"Of course, go right ahead," the woman affirmed, giving her a nod. "Please."

"My friend and I are a bit different from the normal visitors who come to see the patients here," Ami stated evenly, giving a delightful smile. "You see, I've been employed by the Ootori group to keep an eye on the patient you two were just discussing. I am her body guard, and this boy is with me as backup: now, only a few minutes ago, I happened to notice a very suspicious man staring straight at the window the patient you're so concerned for is being housed in. Judging by the way these hospitals are built, I'd have to say she's either in room 309 or 412. Am I correct?"

"Huh?! But... how did you know that?" the woman gasped, eyes widening a bit before narrowing. "Explain yourself before I call security."

"I'm a bodyguard," Ami stated in a low tone, slamming her hands down on the desk and discarding her cutesy act; the woman jumped when her eyes sharpened dangerously behind her glasses. "The girl you currently have housed in that room is the daughter of Russia's Grand Duchess. I suggest you let me and my friend here pass before I make some calls. Losing your job will be the least of your worries if you don't allow us to move upstairs this instant."

Haruhi's mouth was hanging open by the time the woman's sweat dropped.

"A-as you wish," the secretary stammered, giving her two visitor's passes. "It's room 412."

"Thank you very much," Ami giggled, going straight back to her cute act and giving a little bow. "I appreciate your kindness! Come on, Haru-chan."

So saying, she snatched the smaller brunette's arm and stormed off towards the stairwell, ignoring the girl's startled protest.

"What are you doing?!" Haruhi hissed, watching as Ami peeked out of the stairwell window with a nervous expression. "Did you seriously just lie to that woman's face?!"

"Sometimes a good lie can save someone's life," the chubbier brunette retorted, biting her lip. "Oh, God... he's still there."

"Who?" Haruhi asked, blinking before she joined the girl in peering out the window; she blinked when she beheld the shady man. "Huh? Who is that?"

"I don't know," Ami muttered, ducking under the windows and hurrying up the stairs with the girl in tow. "All I know is that he's creepy and he's looking at the room Saelind is most likely being treated in."

"And how on God's green earth would you know that?!" Haruhi choked, not believing her ears. "Mind explaining what's going on here? Because I think I missed something!"

"I'll explain it when I understand it myself," the taller girl snapped, silencing her questions with a glare; around that moment, they made it to the top of the stairs, so they both hurried down the hall towards Saelind's room. "All right, when we go in, don't do anything until Mori-san closes the blinds. I don't want that creep watching us."

"Okay, Ami, you need to tell me what's going on," Haruhi sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Where did you get the guts to bluff your way up here?! And why?!"

"To get what I wanted, plain and simple," she mumbled quietly, shaking her head before she ran a pale hand through her dyed brown hair. "Why else?"

"Well, what about that guy?" the Host Club member demanded, cocking her hip. "Shouldn't we just tell Saelind he was watching the room she was in?"

"No way!" Ami choked, looking at her with stunned eyes. "If you care about her, you can't tell her something like that! You have to keep things like this a secret from the people it concerns! If you want to tell someone, tell Kyouya or Tamaki!"

"Why?" Haruhi asked with a worried frown, looking both troubled and surprised by her accuracy.

"Because knowing her, she'd probably walk right up to the creep and start a fight, and that's not safe or smart," Ami replied; in all honesty, it didn't really matter that the two of them barely knew each other. Nor did it matter that they probably wouldn't ever really get to know each other at all. It only mattered that Haruhi understood the fact that she had to keep quiet. "I'm serious… you really can't tell Saelind about that guy! Forget you even saw him a few minutes ago… forget it… please."

Haruhi didn't say anything, but now her large brown eyes were searching for something in Ami's face.

"Fine," she said quietly, starting to walk towards the hospital room. "I'll tell Kyouya about it later. Tamaki would probably blurt it out on accident at a later time."

Just as they rounded the corner, Mori walked out into the hall with a hand on his head: he looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Mori-sempai!" Haruhi called, jogging up to the tall boy with large eyes. "Is Saelind okay?! How is she doing?!"

"She's fine," the giant replied in an emotionless baritone, then unhappily added, "as in, she won't stop saying she's 'fine' when whatever she eats comes back up ten minutes later."

"I see," Ami murmured, making a weird sound in the back of her throat; it took Haruhi a moment to realize that the girl was fighting off a laugh. "Figures."

"I want to see her," Haruhi stated firmly, moving past and gripping the door handle. "Sorry for the intrusion!"

As soon as the girl opened the door, the sound of an argument reached her ears.

"Where are you going?" a female voice snapped, and when she stepped inside she saw a Nurse standing with her hands on her hips; Saelind was currently trying to get off the bed. "I've told you sixty seven times to stay in that bed so far, young lady! Don't make me hold you down again!"

"I've got to pee, old woman!" Saelind retorted vehemently, high-pitched voice sounding weak even though her teal eye was flashing with fire. "With all the orange juice you've shoved down my throat, it's either the bathroom or the bed! Pick one!"

"Hurry it up, then," the Nurse snapped. "Get going!"

"Sael-chan, you seem really angry," Honey whispered, quivering in the corner with large eyes. "Are you okay?!"

"Now would not be the time to talk to me, blondie," she snapped, making him cringe. "Wait until I'm in a better mood. Go eat some cake until then."

It was rather was pathetic the way Saelind shuffled towards the bathroom, but before she shut the door, she glared at the woman taking care of her and snorted in disgust.

Then it was slammed closed.

After lifting her face towards the ceiling and uttering a prayer, the elderly woman turned around and twitched when she saw Haruhi and Ami standing there.

"Can I help you?" she asked, forcing a broad smile; she looked more than a little irritated. "More visitors, I presume?"

"We're just here to have a visit with the bad-tempered sickie," Ami snickered, shaking her head. "From the looks of things, she seems pretty ill."

"I'm not sick, Ami-chan! I'm totally fine!" Saelind's voice snapped from the bathroom; only a heartbeat later, they could all hear her throwing up again. "I'm absolutely not barfing right now! I'm not sick, so you'd better believe it! Good as gold!"

The statement was punctuated by more vomiting noises; Haruhi cringed and swallowed, feeling a little nauseous just from hearing it.

"I see what you mean by denial," she whispered to Mori when he stepped back inside the room. "Jesus, I've never seen her like this."

"She's the most difficult girl I've ever seen," she muttered. "I might knock her unconscious before the doctor comes back."

Behind them, someone suddenly cleared their throat and Haruhi looked over her shoulder to find a young woman staring at her in amusement. She was wearing a blue, knee-length dress with silver sandals, and a red backpack was slung over her left shoulder. Strands of shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair had escaped her ponytail, falling into lime green eyes: a foreigner through and through.

"Is Saelind Heseroph here?" the woman asked sweetly in choppy Japanese; three sets of eyes widened in surprise when she chuckled.

"Yes, she is," the nurse replied with a blink, "and you are?"

"Well, I'm her doctor," the woman explained, grinning and holding out a hand. "I was directed here by a man who claimed to be Saelind's neighbor. It seems she's gotten herself sick again... I'm sorry that you've had to deal with her attitude: she's the most difficult patient any doctor could imagine."

Haruhi giggled since it was almost word for word what the Nurse had just said to them.

"She's in there," Haruhi told the woman. "She's not feeling too good, though, so I'd advise you to proceed with caution."

The blonde woman's eyes narrowed as she strode over and knocked on the door.

"_Saelind, open the door!_" she called loudly, speaking in fluent Russian. "_You have three seconds to get your tiny butt out here before I drag you out by your ears._"

"_Eh?! Emilia, is that you?!_" Saelind instantly squeaked, alarmed voice sliding out of the bathroom with a fervor that made Haruhi blink. "_No way..._"

"_It's me, little girl, so open the damn door!_" the blonde woman bellowed. "_Now! This instant!_"

"I can't believe that bitchy woman actually sent you all the way here to Japan," Saelind muttered. "God, I hate my mother..."

There was a sudden flush and the sink turned on.

"It's Doctor Emilia to you, Saelind," the woman replied, leaning against the wall by the door and folding her arms over her chest, foot tapping. "I finally got my degree."

The door opened slowly and Saelind peeked out with a scowl.

"The day I call you Doctor anything is the day that a herd of pigs will fly to Mars," the brunette snorted; then she paused since she saw Haruhi standing in the clinic with Ami and Mori. "What're you doing here, Haruhi? I thought you were going to stay home."

"I was worried, and so was my dad, so I came here to check on you," the girl explained. "That's all."

"Well, I'm fine, so don't worry," Saelind grumbled, wobbling towards the bed. "Perfectly fine."

Before she could make it, Dr. Emilia jumped in front of her and pulled out a thermometer, but the black-haired girl turned away and didn't take it.

"You stick this under your tongue, or I will forcefully put it somewhere else," the woman warned in a low voice; Saelind paled and obediently stuck it in her mouth. However, before she could stop herself, Haruhi started laughing at this unbelievable situation: she hadn't thought anyone could control Saelind like that since the girl was so stubborn. Beside her, even Mori smirked a little, since he obviously knew why she was in hysterics.

Saelind instantly glared and lifted her middle finger in answer.

"Okay," Emilia told the first doctor about an hour later, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a business card. "We're done here."

After digging a pen out from her backpack, she scribbled on the back before handing it off.

Saelind, on the other hand, was lying on the bed and halfway hiding from the woman.

"So, what's the verdict?" the Hospital doctor inquired. "And also, what do you recommend?"

"Well, it wasn't just a stomach flu," the woman stated grimly, shaking her head. "I don't know what happened to her, but Saelind had a serious staff infection on her left side that I lanced and drained, but you know how these things are. Have her press the wound together starting as deep as possible and force the infection out twice a day. I can't say whether or not she'll be able to feel it, due to the nerve damage the fire caused, but even if she can feel it... this needs to be done. Also, I'd advise you to keep her hydrated and give her healthy foods. Give her absolutely no drugs other than Motrin for the fever, and use the antibiotics I prescribed for the infection on her side. I'll be in town for a very long while on business, so give me a call if you need someone to hold her down."

"I'll be more than willing to do that," the Nurse replied, and both women chuckled, which left the doctor scratching his head.

"Also, this is her brother's number," Emilia continued, voice lowering to a worried whisper. "If she gets really ornery, call him and let him know what's going on. Saelind has some traumatic issues due to an accident she was in a few years ago, and her brother is the only person she'll listen to no matter what. They're attached to each other at the hip, so it should work well... but only do this as a last resort."

While the adults were talking, Haruhi walked over to Saelind's bedside and leaned close.

Her visible teal eye was closed, and her childish face was soft and relaxed. The brunette realized with a giggle that she was already asleep, but the laugh died away when she saw just how bad the burns on her face were. She felt so awful right then that, quite unhappily, she thought she might cry. Not wanting to wake the small girl up or break down into tears, she sat down on a visitor's chair and kept watch. Ami did the same, only she remained standing. Not long after that, the blonde woman left the room with a wave, and the teens were left alone.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Honey asked, worriedly looking at the girl with glazed eyes. "How did she get hurt?"

Surprisingly enough, Ami was the one who answered.

"She was hit by a truck on her way to school," the brunette grimly explained, making everyone snap to stare at her. "If I had to guess, she got that injury on her side from the metal fender... I saw the front of the truck before she ran off: the metal part was all broken and rusty."

"She got hit by a truck?!" Haruhi shrieked, jumping to her feet and staring at Ami in horror. "No way! You're lying! Even someone as tough as her wouldn't be able to get up after going through something like that unless it wasn't going very fast, right?!"

"Well, if thirty-miles an hour is considered fast, then Saelind defies all common sense, I guess," the glasses-wearing girl retorted. "She refused to let me call an ambulance when she came to and continued off to school. "

Before anything else could be said, Saelind's phone went off: a beautiful voice immediately slid into the air and Ami's pocket vibrated.

"Eh?!" she whispered, face draining of color. "Oh, yikes! I almost forgot..."

So saying, she pulled the phone out and was just about to set it on the dresser when Haruhi gripped her wrist.

"Why do you have Saelind's phone?" the brunette demanded. "Where did you get it?"

"I was asked by Kyouya himself to grab it bring it to her," Ami stated fiercely, making the other girl blink. "He apparently needs her to check something."

The phone continued ringing for another two minutes.

Then it stopped.

And started up again five seconds later.

"Why don't you just answer it?" Honey suggested, making everyone gawk at him. "It'll keep going off, right?"

"Well... couldn't hurt," Ami sighed, then carelessly flicked the phone on and answered the call before Haruhi could stop her. "Hello?"

There was a short silence, but after a moment, Ami's expression went slack and her eyes widened.

"Oh, my god… Oh, my GOD!" she whispered, eyes huge. "Oh, God! Um... um... no! No, I'm her friend! Saelind is... huh?!"

She listened for a little longer, face draining of color.

"No, she's not able to talk right now," Ami stammered, knees shaking. "Um... just... tell me what you need from her and I'll—wait, what do you mean, no?"

Haruhi frowned when she heard someone enunciate something.

"Um, but... look, I don't know!" Ami whispered frantically. "But seriously, how the heck are you so irresponsible?! I could be ANYBODY! With this kind of information, you need to be really, really careful! Is she the Grand Duchess?!"

There was a silence, but then the caller said something.

"No, I guess they wouldn't," Ami muttered, wincing in dismay. "Look, Sir, I don't know how she'll react, but... I'll tell her. So... goodbye."

With that, she hung up and stared at the phone with blank eyes.

"Ami?" Haruhi asked slowly. "What was that about?"

"It's her mother," Ami stated blankly, eyes devoid of anything but shock. "Her mother... the duchess... she's in a coma."

Four sets of eyes widened in horror.

"What happened?!" Honey squealed, sounding horrified. "Is Sael-chan's mom okay?!"

"I honestly have no clue," Ami stated seriously, lifting her eyes. "The person on the other end was Saelind's uncle: apparently, her mother's car went over a cliff, and she's been in the hospital for a month now. He sent that doctor lady to bring Saelind back to Moscow."

Silence reigned free after the news was out.

There was only one was something like this could turn out, and none of it was pretty.


	27. Chapter 26: Heart Burn

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Heart Burn**

For the next two days, Saelind's mind was in a fog since she was drugged up on pain medication and antibiotics.

During the hours she was actually conscious, the girl was sluggish and irritable since she couldn't process anything like an intelligent human being. She also received constant visits from the Host Club members at varying times, but she simply ignored them for the most part. Oddly, the only one who hadn't come to visit her was Mori, but she was so drugged up that she didn't realize that part until a few weeks after she was back to normal.

However, on her third day in the hospital, Saelind woke up feeling completely lucid.

So. after checking to make sure she was really alone, the girl made herself get up.

It took forever and it was so difficult to breathe that she wanted to smack her head on something, but she managed to get out of bed on her own and used the bathroom before anyone noticed she was up. Around lunch time, the Nurse walked in with a tray of soup and toast, but Saelind herself was already knee deep in a book about ghosts that a certain shady beanpole had apparently dropped off.

She'd figured out who'd brought it after opening the first page: after all, there was a Beelzeneff cat drawing on the inner cover.

"Heseroph-san," the woman stated in surprise, putting cheer into her voice. "You're awake? But... you were sleeping when I left."

"It's been four hours since I opened my eyes," Saelind snorted, sourly flicking her hair out of her face while she read. "You must have been busy since I didn't see you once during that time. Not like it matters very much to me, since we both know we don't like each other very much. No harm done"

"Is that so?" the nurse stated in a flat tone, roughly setting the tray down on her side desk; Saelind shrugged absently and the Nurse's eyes narrowed at her, but the tiny girl didn't notice the glare. "Well, I brought you some lunch… do you mind putting the book away?"

"I'm not required to, and I actually do mind, but the food smells good," Saelind murmured, putting the tome down beside her. "This is the first time I've ever been confined to a Japanese Hospital. So… do I eat in bed or am I allowed to eat at a table like a normal person?"

The Nurse answered her question by placing the tray across her lap.

About fifteen minutes later, and at the exact moment she finally finished eating, the twins simultaneously walked into the room and dragged two chairs over to sit next to her. The Asian gingers stared at her long enough to make her feel uncomfortable; then Hikaru cocked an eyebrow and Kaoure gave a devilish smirk.

"So, that beautiful doctor was yours?" Hikaru asked, waggling his eyebrows before he stuck his tongue out and glanced at his twin. "Spill the beans."

"Yeah, tell us," Kaoru added, setting his chin on his palm with a smirk. "We're dying to know."

"I've been out of it for three days and that's the first thing you ask the moment I'm fully lucid?" Saelind droned, looking up at them with a blank expression. "Thanks."

They shared a look with each other, but Saelind lifted an arm and silenced them before they could ask how she was doing, simply to get to their real motive. The Hitachiin twins halted with identical blinks when she pointed at one sitting on her left with a fierce expression.

"Hikaru," she stated in a low tone, making the redhead's eyes widen, "you already have your brother. Stay away from Emilia or she'll ruin your life. I'm dead serious. And Kaoru, quit playing it up. "

The boy instantly flamed redder than his hair and immediately stood up, mouth opening and closing in shock.

Kaoru, on the other hand, merely looked stunned.

And not in a forced manner like she was used to seeing: he seemed genuinely startled by her statement.

"How do you know that's Hikaru?" he slyly demanded, smirking despite the confusion in his eyes. "What if you're wrong about which of us is which?"

"I'm not," Saelind grumpily retorted, slouching back down into the bed. "I've never had trouble telling you two apart."

"Why?" they chorused, looking shocked in more ways than one. "More importantly, _how?"_

"Morons... I have my own twin, that's how," the girl inaudibly hissed; then, a bit louder, she snapped, "you two may not think so, but there _are_ very subtle differences in your appearances, as well as your voices. Less perceptive people wouldn't be able to pick up on those small dissimilarities, but those who can, do."

The twins shared a long look before pulling a set of top hats out of nowhere and hiding their bangs.

Then they walked out of the room, waited five seconds, and walked back in.

"Which one of us is Kaoru?" the twin on the right inquired, batting his lashes with wide eyes. "Can you tell?"

"If you don't even know who you are, Kaoru, I think you have some mental issues," the girl deadpanned, turning back to her book with a sigh to avoid seeing the shock. "I don't even need to look at you to tell who's who. Guys... I don't feel like doing this right now. Why the heck are you even here? Shouldn't you be helping the Host Club?"

"We're visiting so we can be good friends," they replied in synchronicity. "Can we say that you seem to be looking much better?"

"No, I want you to tell me that I'm sick," the Russian girl sarcastically snorted. "I want you to tell me that I have to stay here for another night. I want you to tell me I'll be sleeping in a place where I might end up killing an egotistical Fem-Dom nurse. Oh, but if you're going to lie to me, please tell me that you think I might end up growing past the five foot mark at some point in my crazy little life?"

"You're going to grow past five feet at some time in your crazy little life," Hikaru said dryly, making his twin snicker. "Your get-well wish has been granted."

"My gut just blew up from laughing so hard," Saelind snapped, growling like a wild dog before she slipped under the blankets to hide from their laughter; someone's phone buzzed not long after that. Kaoru flipped it open and they leaned together to read, but then they smiled broadly at the text.

"We'll be back," the twins exclaimed, leaping up at the same time and rushing for the door. "The Host Club needs us."

Knowing that she didn't even want to know what it was about, Saelind shrugged and came out of the blankets like a turtle so she could pick up the book she had put down. She was just getting into the story again when two shadows fell over her and she let out a sigh.

"So, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have returned," she absently muttered, gently turning a page. "I thought the Host Club was calling you?"

"If you think we're the twins," a deep voice slowly stated, "I think you might need to have your eyes checked."

"Huh?" Saelind whispered, head popping up in alarm; when her gaze landed on Mori and Honey, she twitched and stared at them in surprise. "Oh... um. Hi."

That was all she could think of saying.

"Sael-chan!" Honey exclaimed, running over and leaning close with shining eyes. "You responded! You're awake!"

"Obviously," the girl sighed, not even having enough energy to stay angry. "I'll be better in no time."

"Mitsikuni," Mori suddenly murmured, making the blonde turn in curiosity, "take this and go get some snacks for us."

So saying, he held out a hand and dropped ten thousand yen into hands.

"Okey, dokey!" Honey chuckled, giving his cousin and grin. "I'll be back as soon as possible!"

Then, with a happy expression, he ran outside and gently closed the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Mori slowly walked over to the window and stared at the wall, but Saelind frowned when his eyes flicked towards something outside it. Then they narrowed ever so slightly and he made a show of shielding his eyes from the sunlight hitting them.

"May I close the blinds?" he carefully inquired. "It's a little bright."

"Do what you want," Saelind murmured, glancing back down at her book and continuing to read. "It's bright enough in here already, so it's not like they need to be open."

He immediately drew the blinds across the window before sitting down and staring at her in silence.

The girl's anxiety skyrocketed when he merely sat there, because she could tell that something about his demeanor was off: his face didn't have a stoic expression for once. He looked kind of apprehensive, almost as though he didn't know how to bring up an uncomfortable conversation.

After taking a better glance at the expression on his face using her peripheral vision, Saelind felt something tight searing through her. He looked really uncomfortable, which wasn't normal. So, she finally brought it up and looked directly at him.

"Why are you staring at me?" she carefully inquired, keeping her voice even. "Is something bothering you?"

"Saelind," Mori rumbled, taking a deep breath and uneasily running a hand through his stylishly messy hair. "I… uh…"

"What is it?" Saelind demanded sharply. "Just spit it out."

However, the different struggles of emotion searing across his face nearly made her heart stop.

"I saw your legs and your stomach," he finally muttered, looking away with a deep grimace. "I apologize."

Saelind suddenly couldn't think: the only thing she could do was stare at him in open-mouthed shock. What did he mean by that? There wasn't anything wrong with that, unless... he was talking about the other scars. The tiny girl automatically shifted back on the bed in an effort to put some distance between them.

"My… legs and stomach?" she repeated in a wary voice, heart pounding hard and fast. "What do you mean?"

Clearing his throat, Mori made a face that said he was struggling to find the right words.

For a long moment he simply stared at her, and she suddenly forgot about her fear: his crystalline eyes seemed to cut into her soul, almost as though he knew exactly what she was feeling. He knew something about her, and she dreaded whatever it was. Didn't help that his eyes constantly shifted in hue from dark brown to steel grey.

"Saelind," Mori sighed, deep voice vibrating her body as he stared at her, "you were shot and stabbed by someone."

The weight on her chest tightened into a knot that settled into her gut: it was definitely the other scars.

The girl closed her eyes, slumping down in complete relief since this was easy to explain: the mugging on the way home from school, or the grocery store holdup, and she was good as gold. Since she was trembling so badly, though, the girl barely managed to force out a sarcastic laugh.

"And?" she asked, keeping her face neutral when he blinked in surprise.

"It.. doesn't bother you?" he inquired, cocking an eyebrow. "That I know?"

"Not really," she answered truthfully. "It looks a lot worse than it actually was."

"Uh, huh," the giant said dryly, staring at her with a question in his slanted eyes. "How bad was it?"

"Minimal muscle damage for the stabs and no shrapnel for the bullets," she answered mechanically, repeating what her mother had told her to say a long time ago just in case someone noticed the scars they were currently talking about. "It was a long time ago… so long that I barely remember it."

"How long ago?" the giant demanded, urging her to talk; when Saelind jerked her eyes away from his, he grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him. The girl didn't even seem to notice that he was being abnormally gentle with her this time… even when she stared at his huge hand with a venomous expression. "How old were you?"

For a second, something strange flickered behind his eyes and the urge to run away hit her so hard in the gut that she almost took off from the bed. However, she somehow managed to force herself to calm down: no one was going to jump out at her with Mori sitting here. Taking a deep breath, the girl calmed herself and tried to think of a lie to tell him. Her mind started whirling for something to say that would get him off her back.

She really wanted to lie and tell him that the scars were extremely old.

"I don't remember how old I was when I got most of these scars individually," she finally mumbled, glaring at the spot his hand was touching: she felt numb and detached. "Are we done now?"

"No, we aren't... so don't lie," Mori stated firmly, squeezing her wrist. "Tell me the truth. It's important."

"I did tell you the truth... what I said isn't a lie," she said quietly, not noticing how his brows furrowed. "I really don't remember specifics like that because I received them all at different points in my life."

"Well, if not _when,_ then _how_ did you get them?" Mori inquired. "Will you tell me?"

This, at least, was easy enough for her to lie about... or so she thought: a lie of any variety would have been suitable, but... somehow, her mind went blank. Panic set in when she realized she couldn't think of anything false to tell him, or even how to word it. So, after flipping through a multitude of different scenarios, she finally sighed and decided to tell the truth. It's not like her mother needed defending anyway.

Quite the contrary, Saelind felt that the woman who gave birth to her was a horrible person and deserved the blame.

After all, everything she'd endured over the years had happened because of the Duchess.

"Before I say anything, let me just make something clear," the girl stated in a low tone. "You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, or it could cause some really big political trouble with _my_ country. And even more in depth, it could put me and another member of my family at risk. Are we clear?"

Mori nodded once and waited, leaning back with an expectant expression.

"Well... all these scars I have... they weren't intended for me," the girl stated slowly, averting her visible eye in anger before they softened in an unfamiliar. "They were meant for my older brother."

Mori frowned in confusion, obviously not understanding.

"I don't get it," he stated, making her sigh.

"Let's just put it like this," the girl muttered, shaking her head as she fought to think of a way to explain it. "You know how Kaoru and Hikaru switch places all the time because nobody can tell them apart?"

"Yes," Mori quietly confirmed.

"Well, whenever dangerous political situations would arise and my brother's life was threatened," Saelind muttered, rubbing her side with narrowed eyes, "my mother forced us to swap places. The term 'older brother' is just a small formality, since he's only ten seconds older than me. In short, we're twins... and before the fire, I was used as his decoy for assassination attempts, so a lot of the time, I actually ended up getting hurt in his place."

Mori's eyes widened and he stared at her in shock.

Without their knowledge, Honey had halted outside the door with his hand on the knob, brown eyes totally blank.

"Saelind," Mori muttered. "I didn't—"

He halted when she jerked her arm free of his grasp and fixed him with a glare.

"Don't even say it!" she growled, shackles rising in an instant. "Yes, I was shot and stabbed, and yes, I was used by my mother in a horrible way. Sure, it took me weeks to recover every time I was attacked, but my brother was suffering just as much as I was because he had to watch the aftereffects of my suffering. Either way, both of us were in pain, and even if our roles had been reversed, nothing would have changed. He'd have been the one with the scars, and I'd have been the one crying at night over him constantly being hurt by people."

Mori's eyes went blank when she averted her gaze with a tight jaw.

"You care a lot about him," he droned; it wasn't even a question.

"He's the only person in this world I trust unconditionally," Saelind retorted, giving him such a sharp glare that his breath caught; there was passion in this stare, and for the first time, her eyes were determined. "Personally? These scars are the only ones that I don't want changed during the surgery, because I got them while I was protecting my sibling's life. Even if I'd had a choice in the matter back then, I'd have done it anyway since Saelvan is everything to me. Nothing will ever change that, even him turning his back when I most need him. So don't show me any sympathy, because these scars are the ones I'm proud of."

If there was anything she truly hated, it was pity: she had mostly gotten past her own difficulties.

So, why was it that others couldn't?

"You should rest," Mori said quietly, turning away with shadowed eyes.

"Why?" she snorted, pulling her long hair over her shoulder and hiding the left half of her face. "Is there a guy with a gun hidden under the bed?"

"No," Mori retorted, narrowing his eyes slightly, "but someone has been standing outside the hospital ever since you were admitted. He's here every day, and he's always staring up at this particular room. We've been coming because Haruhi and Ami are worried that he might be a stalker."

Saelind twitched and stared at him with fright on her face, but then she closed her eyes.

"A guy in a trench coat and sunglasses?" she inquired, making him blink; when he nodded, she sighed. "Thought so."

However, they both knew the conversation was done when Honey opened the door and walked in with his arms full of snacks.

"I'm back!" he exclaimed, beaming at them with cheerful eyes. "I got rice cakes and potato chips and other yummy treats for us to share!"

"Oh, goody," the girl sarcastically snorted. "Calories. Every girl's dream come true."

"You seem like you're feeling a bit better, Sael-chan!" Honey laughed, grinning at her. "Wll you be coming back soon?!"

"That's three people who've said that today," the girl pondered, shaking her head. "Strange."

"Four," Mori corrected, making her pause and look up. "You do look better."

In that moment, something about his eyes made her heart skip a beat and she froze in place.

Saelind sat still as a statue as her heartbeat began to slow, eventually coming to a near halt as she gazed into those mellow pools; she felt the room, the hospital, the world in general, dissolving into swirling brown and grey sparkles that soon meshed into darkness, leaving nothing but his eyes inside of it. It was like she was seeing the sun for the first time ever, so clear and bright that it was blinding.

She had been captivated by his eyes.

"W-what…?" Saelind tried to whisper, tightly clutching her shirt and shivering when her heart painfully began to speed up again; however, it skipped several beats, making her twitch. "Ow..."

"Sael-chan?" Honey asked, staring at her in concern. "Are you okay?"

_I can't… my mouth… I-I…_ Saelind hazily thought, struggling to speak as something lashed her chest. _I can't… talk…_

"Saelind," Mori stated, leaning forward with furrowed brows. "Are you all right?"

The girl simply cocked her head to the side with an uncomprehending expression.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, hitting the wall, and both of them jumped when the twins ran into the room.

"We're back!" Hikaru and Koaru cheered at the same time. "Did ya miss us?"

In that instant, her mind returned to a somewhat normal state.

"Not at all," she muttered, patting her chest. "Jesus, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

She didn't pay any attention to what was said after that and merely rubbed her chest in confusion.

However, the girl eventually decided that she was sicker than she thought if she was having weird mental spells. With shaky movements, she reached for the small cup of orange juice next to the bed, but couldn't keep herself from sneaking a glance at Mori's face again.

Sad as it was, she didn't understand why just looking at him now made her heart burn so unpleasantly.

Nor did she want to.

But that much was to be expected... there was only one problem.

These days... Saelind never got what she wanted.


	28. Chapter 27: Confusion

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confusion**

In truth, Saelind spent another two days in the hospital, which was a nightmare for her.

During that time, nobody told the girl about her mother, and that alone was a heavy weight that hung over them.

However, they had a good reason: Emilia had walked in during the middle of the conversation Ami and the others had been having, and she'd told them not to speak a single word. It hadn't been their message to hear, and it would most likely throw Saelind into a fit, so she'd wanted them to leave the telling part to her.

Then she'd taken Saelind's temperature, jotted down a few notes, and left with a promise to return soon.

Sadly, as per usual, the members of the Host Club came to visit the Russian girl for those next two days, totally ruining any peace she might have had without her egotistical and somewhat petty nurse hanging around. However, she couldn't even look at Mori's face anymore without having her heart heating up and going nuts, and it was driving her so insane that she simply ended up ignoring him. And as weird as it was, Honey was the only person who noticed something was different.

After all, she'd avoided his cousin most of the time to start with, but now it was almost as if he didn't exist to her.

Even after Saelind was out of the hospital and back at Ouran, nobody noticed the change... not the beautiful ladies in yellow, or even straight-forward Haruhi. Nobody, aside from him, knew that something was different in a seemingly negative way. And it bothered him so much that he started slacking on his cheery facade in the Host Club.

People noticed _that_ in an instant, unfortunately, so Honey, being who he was, told them it was just a stomachache.

Which had gotten Mori so anxious that he'd hastily been carried down to the infirmary.

After that particular incident, however, he came up with a resolve: he was going to get Saelind alone and figure out why she was ignoring his cousin. However, that was easier thought than said, and even harder to do: it took Honey nearly three days just to approach the girl, let alone talk with her.

Whenever Honey saw her, the two of them were either surrounded by guests or they were in class and couldn't talk. When he'd asked Mori some questions to see if he could trick his cousin into telling him what was going on, the tall Japanese boy hadn't slipped up.

Finally, after a week had passed, he managed to find out the truth by following Ami.

The two of them were always together during lunch these days, and he figured he might find an opening to talk to her during that time. After following Ami Kikiroshi from her classroom and tailing her to the library, Honey leaned back against the shelf and took a deep breath to calm the anxiety in his gut.

It never really went away, since Saelind was always irritable in some way or another, but he wanted to find out what was going on regardless. When he walked into the library, however, he was startled to see that Ami was sitting alone on a bench next to the window, munching on a fish-shaped strawberry tart as she grumbled about something in an irritated manner.

Feeling curious, since Ami was almost always in a cheerful mood, Honey walked out and skipped over.

"Hi, Ami-chan," he piped, making the girl look up in surprise. "What'cha doing?"

"Eating lunch," she stated simply, taking another huge bite for emphasis. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, actually," Honey explained, swinging his arms and hugging his rabbit in an attempt to look cute. "I was wondering if you could tell me where Sael-chan is? I need to talk to her about something reeeeeally important!"

"Well, you're kind of unlucky today, then," Ami muttered, letting out a heavy sigh. "She's busy catching up on the work she missed while she was in the hospital and plain-old avoiding coming to school. I swear, that girl gets away with murder at this academy. If it were anyone else, they'd have been expelled ages ago."

Honey's smile fell and he pouted.

"Could I talk to you, then?" he inquired, making the girl blink at him in surprise. "It's actually about Takeshi, but... I don't really know if Saelind would even tell me."

"Eh?!" Ami gasped, eyes gleaming with mischievous delight. "Damn straight, kiddo! Come on, pop a squat and tell me everything! I already knew something was up between those two... ugh, now I need to know!"

"Yay!" Honey squealed, throwing his hands into the air with a delighted smile. "Thank you, Ami nee-chan!"

However, after hearing about Saelind's change in behavior from a week before, and after being given a very brief description on Saelind's current behavior, the brunette nearly choked on her own spleen. Her eyes were wide.

"She… she _what,_ now?" Ami demanded, staring at him with a slack jaw. "Saelind is _what?"_

"Um, well, she's kind of ignoring Takeshi," Honey explained, fiddling with his thumbs. "And whenever she has to talk to him or even interact with him, her face turns red like she's angry. She never looks at him now. But... the weirdest part is that Takeshi isn't upset. Or maybe he just doesn't notice it yet."

Ami's eyes narrowed.

It was understandable that Saelind would dislike Mori since he'd decked her in the face on her first day, but it was a completely different thing if those feelings were just now becoming visually obvious. It just didn't make sense… as mean as she was, Saelind wasn't the kind of person who would blatantly ignore someone.

In fact, her behavior in general didn't make sense at all.

_Unless,_ Ami realized, eyes widening in awe when it hit her, _Saelind is developing a crush on Morinozuka-kun._

"Hey, give me a few minutes," the girl abruptly stated, dropping her tart and staring at Honey. "Wait right here, and don't move. I'll be back before lunch is over... hopefully with an answer to your question."

So saying, the girl swept out of the library and made her way through the gorgeous academy halls towards the one place that Saelind was bound to be studying: the roof. When she got there, she found that her hunch was correct: the tiny black-haired girl was indeed sitting with her back against the fence, sheltered from the breeze by a tall chimney. Ami smirked and casually walked over before sitting down and staring at the sky.

"Can I help you?" the Russian girl deadpanned, not looking up from her work. "I'm kind of busy right now."

"Well, I kind of have a question," Ami mumbled, putting her best acting skills to use; Saelind instantly turned and looked at her when she twiddled her thumbs and hunched her shoulders. "You see, there's this guy that I like... and... well, he's really big, but quiet, and everyone think's he's gorgeous. I just wanted to talk to you about him."

"I'm not a good person to talk with about romance, but feel free," Saelind sighed, scratching her nose before she went back to working. "Just know that I won't hold back on my opinions."

"Well, in a nutshell, he's... very, very similar to Takeshi Morinozuka," Ami said slowly, waiting for the reaction. "At a first glance, he's really intimidating, but he's kind of... hot. You know, like Mori is... if you're into the tall, muscled, quiet type."

"Well, Mori's a hunk, so you've got good taste," Saelind automatically sighed, voice coming out abnormally quiet. However, the dark-haired girl jumped and whirled to face Ami a split second later once she realized what she'd said. When she saw the huge, shocked grin on Ami's face, the tiny felt panic rising up her throat, swiftly and uncontrollably. "I-I-I-I... I mean, if you like that kind of guy... go for it!"

Oh god, why was her mouth suddenly working without her brain?

"And… what kind of guy is that?" Ami asked, leaning forward with a smirk. "Sael-chan, come on!"

"Well, you know," the girl explained, face turning bright red as she vaguely waved her arms around; when Ami raised an eyebrow, the girl twitched and her mouth opened and closed before she let out a huff of air. Before the brunette could even blink, she tilted her nose up and tried in vain to look like she didn't care. "I-I mean, the confusing kind of guy."

The grin on Ami's face widened so much that her face nearly split.

"He _confuses_ you?" she asked, looking surprised and delighted for some weird reason. "He really confuses you?"

Saelind looked up at the girl with a glare, wondering if all of the sense had just left her scatterbrained mind. Why did it matter if Takeshi Morinozuko confused her like crazy? He would never like her at all, and with the kind of issues she had, romance with someone else would probably never be an option. It was pointless even start talking about it.

"Why are we talking about this?" Saelind hissed, praying that Ami would give up. "You already know how much I hate the Host Club!"

"He confuses you," Ami repeated, eyes going dreamy. "Oh, Kami-sama... Saelind, he _confuses_ you."

"Well, now _you _are _scaring_ me," Saelind retorted in a harsh whisper, glaring at the brown -haired girl. "Seriously, Ami, did you fall down recently? Hit your head? Because it seems to me like you've recently had a concussion or a stroke. You're not all there."

It was like she hadn't even said anything: Ami just kept looking at her with that blank happy expression. Right around the time that Saelind was really going to start worrying about the girl's health, Ami dreamily broke the silence.

"Why is Mori confusing?" Ami fervently demanded.

"You want to know why the creep is confusing? Fine!" Saelind snapped, secretly wondering why it was so important to the brunette beside her. "The entire time I've been at this school, I haven't been able to tell what Mori's been thinking even once because he never changes that annoying expression of his!"

"There are some who would think of you and Mori as being similar in that regard, you know," Ami pointed out with an amused giggle, making the raven-haired girl pause. "After all, you and Mori are similar: he's got the 'I don't feel a thing' facade going on, and you've got what's now referred to as the, 'I don't really like you but I'll deal with it since we're going to see each other each and every day' attitude problem."

"Ami, this and that that are totally different!" Saelind squealed, flailing her arms in outrage. "I mean, one second the guy's glaring daggers at me as though he's gonna murder me while I'm sleeping, then he's holding me three feet in the air and hugging me like a doll. Then he finds out about a piece of my past, and all of a sudden it's like he's trying to be overly protective! I've found myself actually wanting the silent and creepy Mori back because I don't know how to deal with the almost-nice one!"

"Wow," Ami murmured, trying to look sympathetic even though she was laughing inside her head. "I hear ya."

"Why can't my life be simple and not hectic for once?" the girl sighed. "I just don't get why he suddenly changed."

"I don't think he did," Ami carefully murmured, making the smaller girl blink and stare at her. "I think your perception of him did: Mori is the same as usual, Saelind... he hasn't changed at all."

"Liar!" the Russian girl muttered, although she did look a little uncertain. "I'd feel better if he hated me."

"Because, oh, God, it's such a nightmare to have him _not_ hating you!" the Asian girl gasped, putting a hand over her mouth with a mock expression of horror. "I mean, next thing you know, you guys will actually be _friends!_ Oh, this is a terrible situation, Saelind! We have to figure out how to save you from the evils of friendship, and quickly!"

"I hate you so much right now that you're lucky I'm not strangling you," the girl hissed, sounding like she really meant it; then she whirled around and a finger was pointed at her work. "I'll be waiting for you by the gates after club activities are over. I promised to teach you a new dish before I was hospitalized, but since I missed it, we're doing it today at my place."

With that, the girl grabbed her things and stormed towards the doors.

Ami, however, practically danced back to the libraries due to the delight coursing through her.

When Honey jumped up and ran over, her smirk was enormous.

"So, did you find out why she's upset?!" he asked, looking at her with puppy eyes. "I just want to know, Ami-chan!"

"Don't worry, I think I did, kiddo... but first, you have to promise not to say a word," Ami replied in a soothing tone, reminding herself that not everyone knew how entertaining teasing Saelind could really be: they didn't know she'd freeze up and start freaking out if they got close to a truth she didn't want to accept. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" Honey eagerly exclaimed, nodding twice for emphasis. "Please tell me!"

"Well, where to start?" she sighed, picking up her lunch and sitting down with a sigh. "Let's just say that I found out a few things. One, Saelind apparently doesn't like it when people don't make sense: she was practically frothing at the mouth over it earlier, but I managed to calm her down a little."

Honey giggled loudly since the frothing description fit most of her temper tantrums almost perfectly.

"Who's not making sense?" the blonde boy asked, batting his lashes with a smile. "Well… besides Tama-chan."

"Yeah, good point... he never makes sense. Well, common sense, at least... it's no wonder she hates him," she agreed, planting a hand on her chin. "Well, to put it bluntly, Saelind's getting upset because she apparently thinks something about Mori has changed, but in reality... it's her own view of him. She's developed a crush, and since she doesn't understand her own feelings, it's confusing the hell out of her. Hence why she's acting so pissed."

Usa-chan slipped from his hands and fell to the floor.

"That would explain why," Honey mumbled in a soft tone, slowly bending down and picking his bunny up by one ear; his brown eyes had gone blank and for some reason, Ami felt as though something about his reaction was off. "At first, Sael-chan used to treat Mori like he was an alien from Planet Hate. But now she just ignores him."

Feeling interested, Ami raised her eyebrows.

"Planet Hate is a pretty rude place," she murmured. "But hey, being ignored isn't any better, right?"

Honey didn't answer, nor did his eyes move: they'd lost their shine.

Ami was rather surprised when he merely turned and walked out of the room.

Later on, after classes had ended, the host club entertained their guests by teaching them how to play Poker.

Yes, the card game Poker... all because Haruhi had made an offhand remark about Kyouya's poker face, which had sparked Tamaki's curiosity about where the term had come from. That one remark is what led to their special group activity for the day: teaching everyone, even a few hosts, how to properly play cards.

Saelind, surprisingly, was one of the few who already knew how to play the game.

She was currently sitting with Honey, the twins, and most shockingly, Kyouya, as well as all of the girls who'd requested them. Mori and his clients had been grouped with Tamaki's and Haruhi's, since he hadn't known how to play the game either. However, once everyone understood, they had a few practice rounds.

And things became more enjoyable.

After a while, everyone got so immersed in the game that they developed the beginnings of their poker faces.

It was during one of these matches that Saelind took the time to look around.

There was a set of cards in her delicate fingers, but nobody could read her expression: several girls were sitting in front of her, and Honey was looking at his cards with a childish pout as he clumsily fanned the cards in his own hand. Saelind grinned when she finally showed her cards.

Several girls groaned, and the twins looked pained by the outcome.

"You have got to be cheating," the redheads simultaneously deadpanned. "This is the third time you've come out on top."

"You're just saying that because you suck so much," she retorted, letting out a rusty chuckle before she glanced at the girls and purposely made herself look awkward; she flailed her hands for affect. "N-not that you ladies do, um... you're doing great for your first time! Not like I'm l-looking..."

Several frowns and watery eyes turned to blushes and giggles almost immediately.

"We're going to win the next round," Hikaru muttered, face scrunching up in determination; he and his brother had demanded to be considered one player, and they were sharing one hand of cards. Undeniably, it was an extremely interesting way to play poker, and shockingly, it wasn't against the rules. "Just wait..."

"Yeah," Kaoru added, letting out a sigh before smirking at his brother and batting his lashes. "Right?"

"Of course, Kaoru," Hikaru dramatically replied. "We'll win this together, I promise!"

However, when he pressed his forehead against his twin's forehead, and the two of them smiled gently, Saelind's visible eye widened and her hand twitched: for a moment, she was struck blind with an odd nostalgia. Before she even realized that her expression was changing, she'd looked down at the ground with a soft smile that had the girls all around her breathing gasps of shock and surprise.

"Saelind-kun!" one girl breathed, eyes wide with delight. "You... you smiled!"

"Oh, wow, that was so dreamy!" another girl whispered to her friend, clasping her hands. "Did you see that?!"

"It was angelic!" a third girl gushed. "_Sugoooi_!"

"Are you really that happy that you won?" Hikaru asked, looking at her with a serious expression when she finally lifted her eyes. Both boys blinked when they noticed that her eyes weren't as sharp like they normally were after her gaze landed on their faces. "I mean, there are plenty of other things to smile about..."

"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, nodding. "Why smile over a poker game?"

The girls leaned forward, eagerly waiting for her response... but Saelind merely sighed and shrugged.

"It wasn't the poker game, it was you two," she muttered, shaking her head when they gawked; all of the girls gasped and turned bright red, clutching their faces. "I mean... for a moment, you just kinda reminded me of something nice, that's all. It's not like I think your creepy relationship with each other is cool or anything."

The girls, however, all looked at each other and squealed in delight: Saelind twitched and came to her senses when she realized that they thought her last statement was part of her Tsundere act. Her shoulders sagged and she let out a growl of frustration before rolling her eyes and letting it go.

However, the twins were staring at her with no amusement whatsoever now: they looked genuinely thoughtful.

"Can we play a new game now?!" Honey asked, looking around with adorably bright eyes. "I'm having so much fun!"

"Alright," Saelind said with a shrug, wondering why he hadn't realized just how bad he was at poker. "Here we go."

"Hold on!" the twins simultaneously exclaimed, making the girl glance up. "You said that poker is a gambling game, right? That people normally place bets on the game and whoever wins it takes all or none?"

"Yes, pretty much," Saelind snorted, nodding in confirmation. "Back in Russia, people in the diplomatic society would sometimes put a lot of Rubles at stake for this game."

"Well, why don't we try betting?" the twins devilishly inquired, making Saelind blink. "Only, instead of money, the winner gets to ask a person of their choosing to do whatever they want. As long as it's not too extreme, that is."

"Ehh?" several girls gasped, looking around in delight.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" a cheerful girl with black pigtails exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Can we?!"

Saelind narrowed her eyes in dismay, then averted them when Kyouya looked up and smirked at her.

"I also think it's a wonderful idea," he called, then looked at Tamaki. "I think the person who wins the most rounds should definitely have a reward... and if that's what they want, we should indulge our guests."

"If you say so," Saelind grumbled, already knowing she was going to regret it unless she won. "I'm going to win now."

"Good luck with that miracle," the twins simultaneously laughed, poking their tongues out at her in delight. "We're gonna get serious now."

And it was true: from that moment on, the twins somehow started beating her and everyone else. Saelind's anxiety skyrocketed not too long after the ninth round since they both had some of the best game faces she had ever seen.

"I heard that Ouran is hosting a talent competition this Halloween," Hikaru finally stated, smirking at his twin with a devilish expression. "Do you know what that entails?"

"People trying to sing?" Saelind sourly offered, shrugging with a disinterested expression. "That's generally the most popular thing for talent shows and whatnot, right?"

"Well, yes," a girl sitting beside Honey confirmed, fiddling with a strand of her long brown hair. "However, besides that, they're also having the famous switcher party this weekend."

"Really?!" four girls simultaneously squealed. "Oh, wow!"

"Switcher party?" Saelind asked, making a face. "What's a switcher party?"

"Oh?" the twins evilly deadpanned, grinning and leaning forward; the girl scooted away when they cackled. "You don't know about the famous switcher party?"

"Uh, hello?" Saelind snapped, scowling at them. "I wouldn't have asked if I did."

"Well, once we win this, you'll find out," Kaoru chuckled, shaking his head. "Trust me."

Saelind scowled when all the girls looked at her with wide eyes and delighted blushes.

"He'd be perfect for it," one whispered, squealing quietly and waving her hands. "Oh, Kami, he really would!"

"Shhh," another girl whispered, grinning at Saelind. "We can't spoil the surprise!"

"I hope you're not planning on making me go to this thing if you win," Saelind instantly stated. "Seriously."

"Why, Sael-chan?" Honey asked, staring at her in confusion.

"I'm not a big fan of costume parties," the girl grunted, frowning a little bit in dismay. "At all."

Because she was already in a monster all year round. Because she didn't feel like dealing with loud music and close bodies. Because she knew someone would drag Mori along, and she didn't want to spend too much time anywhere near him. Things weren't strained between them anymore and she had no clue how to deal with it. But instead of saying any of that, she simply shrugged.

Narrowing their eyes in confusion, the twins looked at her for a long moment.

Just when she was afraid that they were going to say something, Hikaru put their cards down.

"We win," Kaoru sighed, shaking his head. "I think we should check with the other group to see who won over there."

"No need!" Tamaki laughed, making everyone jump; when Saelind and the others turned, they saw that the other group was literally gathered around them in order to watch the game. "We've decided to make two winners, since we had two different groups."

"Well, I guess that means we get to choose our prize," Hikaru chuckled darkly, glancing at Saelind with Cheshire grins and gleaming eyes. "You're going to the switcher dance next weekend for Halloween."

"And you're going to sing a song for the talent competition!" Kaoru added, making the girls squeal. "We will force you there, Saelind, if it's the last thing we do."

"I'll be sure to put that on your gravestones," the girl stated sweetly, flashing him a dangerous grin. "Trust me."

However, she was too used to their antics to get angry.

All she could do at this point was pray to god their plan wasn't embarrassing.


	29. Chapter 28: Pain and Panic

**Author's Note:** I figured some music would go good with this piece in the story. You'll know when to start the track if you really do decide to play it while you read, trust me. Originally made this song for another story, but it fits with what you're about to read almost perfectly as well, so go ahead. Anyway, I'm gonna be busy all weekend with my college courses, so enjoy this chapter! I'll try to post again between Tuesday and Friday. Love ya'll! (PS: Saelind is loving where this is going. Just thought you should know, lol. Also, all ya have to do for the link is type what you see into the search bar. Without the underscores, of course.)

**h_t_t_p_s_:_/_/_soundcloud_._c_o_m_/jedediah1212/tears-left-uncried-ost-divinity-inuyasha**

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**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Pain and Panic**

After the poker games ended, everyone began the usual Hosting activities since they were all going to be staying after school until nightfall. They usually did this on Wednesdays only, so all of the girls were quite delighted that the new week had started off with a late-night Club day. Saelind, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled.

For one thing, she wasn't really feeling good, and for another... she was feeling defeated and downtrodden.

She couldn't defy the Host Club: her life literally was still moving forward, but she had absolutely no say in her own actions anymore.

Even the dream she was striving for seemed out of her reach: part of her was praying that she'd really be able to get the surgery for her looks, but another part of her doubted the Host Club would really sponsor it. However, she'd already decided to wait and see: the promise of having her old face back was literally the only thing keeping her there.

Still, it was difficult, especially since Saelind's side was still killing her.

She'd put up with it for most of the afternoon, but it got to the point where she finally decided to rely on some pain medication.

She startled the girls around her when she stood up halfway through the activities and rubbed her side.

"Hey, Tamaki?" she grumpily called, making the blonde glance up in startled delight. "Can I be excused for a little while?"

His smile faded when he noticed how pale she was.

"Are you feeling all right?" he inquired, standing up and walking over with sharp movements. "Your side isn't hurting you again, is it?"

"Only a little, but yes... it kinda is," she reluctantly admitted, giving him an irritable expression when he gasped. "Oh, can it! I'm fine, and I'll come right back. I just need to go grab some Motrin from my schoolbag... which, unfortunately, I forgot in the classroom."

"Oh, I'll go with you," Ami instantly exclaimed, hurrying over with a worried countenance. "The stairs might be a little much."

"Thanks," Saelind sighed, walking for the doors with Ami close beside her. "As much as I hate to admit it, I might need a bit of help."

A cold silence filled the room when the two girls were gone.

"Hey, um... is Sael-kun okay?" one of the Russian's regular guests inquired, clasping hands with the girl beside her and staring at the door with nervous eyes. "What happened to his side? And why does he need pain medication? We heard that he was in the hospital for a little while because he was sick... but, was it so bad that he needed surgery or something?"

"Well, that's..." Haruhi mumbled, wincing a little. "Um... it's a long story."

"We want to know!" Saelind's five regulars instantly chorused. "Please, tell us!"

"As you wish," Kyouya stated smoothly, sliding into the conversation the way he usually did. "Saelind got sick because he got into an accident and refused to receive medical treatment afterwards. The injury was properly treated during his stay in the hospital, so there's no need to worry about his health. However, he'll need to take it easy for a while."

"He was in an accident?!" a girl exclaimed, eyes widening in horror. "Oh, dear!"

"What happened?" her friend added, covering her mouth. "How did he get hurt?!"

"We were told... that he got hit by a truck," Haruhi hesitantly replied, wincing when all of the girls gasped. "He was mostly fine aside from getting cut by some rusty metal on the front of the vehicle. In fact, he came to school on the same day and remained stubborn as always about letting himself take care of it."

"That's terrible!" another girl cried. "Why didn't he tell us?!"

"Because he didn't want you lovely ladies to worry," Tamaki fluidly explained, going into prince mode and winning them over with a dashing smile. "Saelind is a true Tsundere, my dears... he isn't good with his own feelings, and he's even worse with the feelings of others, but he really does show his concern in his own unique way."

They all seemed mollified after hearing that.

However, when the doors opened again, they all turned expecting to see the bad-tempered girl. Tamaki instantly lifted his arms to welcome Saelind and Ami back, but he froze the moment his eyes landed on the one who'd stepped inside the room. In truth, nobody had been expecting to see what they were currently looking at: their newest club member was wearing a navy blue girl's uniform with a checkered black skirt, and her hair had been completely undone.

Even worse, Ami was nowhere to be seen.

Apparently, the secret that Saelind was really a girl was finally out.

"S-S-S-Sael-chan?!" Honey squeaked, eyes bugging out of his head; all of the girls let out a simultaneous gasp and squealed in utter delight, making the person who'd just walked into the room jump and clasp her hands against her chest. Kyouya's eyes instantly narrowed, the twins whistled and shook their heads in disappointment, Haruhi looked thunderstruck, and Mori... well, oddly enough, he was staring at the girl with an odd frown: something about the look in her eye seemed off.

Her expression was somehow different, and there was even something about her face...

All of a sudden, his eyes widened and he stood up.

"That isn't Saelind," the giant stated firmly, making the room go silent in an instant. "That girl isn't Saelind Heseroph."

The moment he said it, the girl's face snapped towards him and a large teal eye was revealed: she looked startled for some reason.

"Are you kidding?" Haruhi whispered, pointing at the girl with a shocked expression. "How can you say that's not Saelind?!"

"Um... excuse me?" the girl stammered in choppy Japanese, timidly lifting a hand and pushing her thigh-length hair out of her eyes; when the left half of her face was revealed, everyone was instantly struck dumb. Gasps of shock filled the room all around since the girl's face was smooth, silky, and absolutely beautiful. "Well, um... does anyone know where I can find... er, Saelind Heseroph?"

"No way," Haruhi deadpanned, staring at the girl's beautiful features with enormous eyes. "Oh, my God... who IS that?!"

"You..." Tamaki whispered, slowly walking forward and making the girl huddle backwards with enormous eyes; she twitched when he stretched a hand out and pulled her hair out of her face again. "You... who are you?! You look exactly like... like... who are you?!"

"Um..." the girl squeaked, knees shaking violently. "I-I-I'm..."

Before the girl could say another word, the doors opened once again and Saelind herself walked inside the room with Ami close behind: she was just closing her bag and turning to look at Ami when she spotted her doppelganger being ogled at by Tamaki and the other people in the room. The girl froze where she was standing, visible eye growing wide.

"_No way..._" she whispered in Russian, making the dark-haired doppelganger in front of her stiffen with rigid shoulders; when the 'girl' turned around, 'her' eyes widened as well and they stared at each other with identical expressions of shock. "V-VANNY?!"

"LIIIIIIINDY!" the 'girl' shrieked, throwing 'her' arms in the air in delight; 'her' eyes had lit up from the inside out. "LINDY! Oh, GOD!"

"SAELVAN!" Saelind squealed, spreading her arms with a laugh when her sibling ran towards her with large teal eyes; when the doppelganger tackled her to the ground, everyone gasped... not because of the tumble, but because there was an utterly enormous smile on the bad-tempered girl's face and she was laughing. "Oh, my God! What are you _doing_ here?! I thought you went to Austria with Uncle Claes!"

"I only went there so our Uncle could help me track you down!" Saelvan wailed, pulling away and shaking her back and forth with frantic teal eyes. "I missed you so mu—UWAAAH! Oh, my GAWD! Lindy, your hair looks like road kill!"

"Um, excuse me, Porcupine Head?" she laughed, referring to her twin's ancient attempt at a j-rock hairstyle that had—in fact—made 'her' look like a porcupine. "Don't make me remind you that you looked ridiculous back when we were both eight years old! I swear, if you deny it, I'll pull out _all_ the photo albums! Plus, it was styled by a professional: the look is intentional!"

"My hair did not look like a porcupine!" her twin exclaimed, pressing 'her' forehead against Saelind's. "I-it was just abnormally spiky, that's all!"

"Still in denial, I see," Saelind giggled, smiling at her sibling before she realized what the 'girl' was wearing; her visible eye went blank and she gawked. "Um, Vanny? What the hell are you wearing?! Is that... is that my old SKIRT?!"

"S-Saelind?" Ami suddenly stammered, making the girl twitch and remember where she was. ""W-what's going on here?"

Her face went pale and she stared at her twin before letting out a sigh.

"_Vanny, listen,_" Saelind whispered in Russian, looking around and fixing her sibling with an intense stare. "_Right now, I'm pretending to be a guy again: you need to play along as my twin sister until later on tonight, or I'll be in very, very big trouble. Understand?"_

_"Eh?" _her 'sister' whispered back, blinking a bit in owlish alarm. _"O-okay, if you say so..."_

So saying, Saelind crawled upright and helped Saelvan back up.

"Ami, look!" she exclaimed, sliding her unmarked hand into Saelvan's and dragging 'her' over. "Look! This is my twin sister!"

"EHHHHH?!" the room chorused, and with a flash, everyone was rushing over to meet the 'girl' that had walked in. Everyone was eager to meet 'her', the Host Club included, but while all of this commotion was going on, Saelind's hand never left her twin's. When the dark-haired teens returned to the table, things resumed with a little more flare since the clients were eager to talk to Saelvan. Things ended too slowly in Saelind's opinion, but when the girls all started going home, everything was quiet.

Soon, only the Host Club members were left.

"So, I presume this is your brother?" Kyouya slyly inquired, making Tamaki gasp in horror; he turned bone white since he'd actually kissed Saelvan's hand earlier. "Well, I must say, you two really _are_ identical."

"You're correct: this is my big brother," Saelind confirmed, squeezing his hand; Saelvan nervously bowed and awkwardly clenched his fist before timidly raising his eyes. "Please, don't hold his current attire against him: knowing our family, he was probably forced into dressing like this for safety measures."

"Yep," the boy confirmed, shuddering as he touched the skirt; then he looked at her with solemn eyes. "Still, the part that irritates me the most is that nobody can really tell if I'm a guy... even back when I had short hair and wore masculine clothes, everyone mistook both of us as girls until we set them straight. It's not fair... I hate looking like this."

"Excuse me?!_"_ Saelind snapped, fixing him with a glare. "You'd better not be saying that we're _ugly, _buster!"

"So what if I am?!" Saelvan retorted, glaring right back at her with equal intensity. "What'cha gonna do about it?!"

Saelind instantly hissed at him like a snake, which elicited a wolfish growl from the boy: they glared at each other and snarled at the same time, revealing identical sets of fangs with fierce expressions. The wild exchange made everyone stare at them in stunned surprise, since it was actually quite unnerving to realize that Saelind wasn't the only one with animalistic tendencies. However, both glares soon faded into softer expressions and they laughed at the same time.

Clasping hands, they pressed their foreheads together and giggled a little more quietly.

The sight made the Hitachiin twins stare with large eyes, and after a moment, they glanced at each other in recognition.

"You haven't changed at all," Saelvan sighed, clasping both of her hands and closing his eyes. "You're the same as always."

"So are you," Saelind retorted, giving her twin an amused smirk even as she closed her own eyes. "Still timid as a rabbit unless I'm standing right next to you. Sometimes I still don't get your behavior. It's not like I'm any stronger than you!"

"Liar," the tiny boy chuckled, shaking his head with a grin and nuzzling her forehead. "You know me better than anyone else alive, and you're WAY tougher than me, so don't act like a smarty pants. Now, I hate to impose on you, but do you have a pair of pants I can borrow? I... I don't really like wearing these clothes. At all."

"But of course!" Kyouya stated with a sly smirk, making Saelind turn with narrowed eyes. "However, before that, I must ask... what are your plans from here on out? And more importantly, why have you come all the way to Ouran? Surely it can't just be to visit your sister, correct?"

"Eh?" Saelvan inquried, blinking at him before he shivered and hid behind his twin. "Um... well, actually, I... I'm being transferred into Ouran Academy. Starting tomorrow, I'll be attending classes here... and, I'm also moving in with Lindy."

"EH?!" Saelind squeaked, eye widening in shock. "Really?! What the heck do you mean?!"

"Yes, I am quite intrigued," Kyouya added, smirk fading a little. "Would you care to explain the reasons for this change?"

"Well, there... are lots of reasons," the boy mumbled, looking at the ground with vacant eyes. "It's still in the process of happening, but... ever since our mother got into that accident, the country's been in an uproar about certain policies. And since I'm still too young to do anything of value for Russia, our Uncle's friend is going to be taking the reigns for a while. Everyone thought it was best to get me out of there until things return to normal."

Saelind's eye went blank and she whirled to face her brother.

"What do you mean?" she demanded, making her twin blink and cock his head. "What accident?!"

"Eh?!" Saelvan gasped, clutching her hands with enormous eyes. "Lindy, you didn't know?!"

"Know what?!" the girl cried, squeezing his hands. "Tell me!"

"Our mother got into a car accident and went over a cliff last month!" the boy cried, making the girl turn pale. "She's been in a coma ever since thet day... I thought you knew! Emilia told me you did when I asked her about it a few months ago!"

"Emilia knew?" the girl whispered, narrowing her eyes before she froze. "Wait... is she here, too? Inside the school?"

"Um, yes, actually," the boy confirmed, giving her a quick nod. "She's getting ready to talk with the chairman about my enrollment process right now, in fact."

Tamaki's eyes lit up and he danced over with a bright grin.

"Is that so? Well, we welcome you to our Academy, then!" the princely blonde exclaimed, beaming at Saelvan so much that the timid boy buried his face in Saelind's shoulder. "Say, might we ask you to join the Host Club?"

"You'd fit in pretty well," Haruhi hesitantly added, biting her lip. "And plus, you could be with Saelind more!"

Saelvan was silent for a time... but then, he closed his eyes.

"This is an all-guy's club, though, isn't it?" the teal-eyed youth inquired, making Tamaki tilt his head. "Or... can girls join it, too?"

"No, it's strictly for boys only," Kyouya confirmed, making the Russian boy lower his eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Because joining your club will be a problem, otherwise," he explained, giving them a weak smile. "Ya see, I'm being enrolled to this school as a girl. My family wants to keep me safe... and cross-dressing is the most efficient way of keeping my identity a secret."

"No way!" Saelind snorted, mouth splitting into a shocked grin. "You're enrolling here as a GIRL?! Oh, maaan! That means you're gonna have to wear that ugly princess pom pom dress! HA!"

"Shut up!" Saelvan snapped, clouting her shoulder before he twitched and drew back like a startled puppy. "Oh, sorry... I..."

"Meh, don't even worry about it," the girl snickered, grinning at her twin in devilish delight. "You'll make up for that by smiling for all the pictures I'm gonna be taking of you! Oh, God, this is gonna be so much fun!"

"You wouldn't dare," the boy squeaked, eyes wide and puppy-like. "Don't take pictures of me in a dress, you weirdo!"

"The true weirdo is the one _wearing_ the dress, moron!" the girl cackled, shocking everyone; they'd never seen her act like this before, so it was fairly amazing for everyone. Haruhi in particular felt her heart softening since Saelind really seemed to be herself around her sibling. "Don't forget that you're the one who's gonna be cross-dressing! HAH!"

"What does the uniform look like, anyway?" Saelvan pouted, uncomfortably touching the pleated skirt he was wearing. "I... I won't have to wear something revealing, will I?"

"No," Ami intervened, sweeping forward and setting a hand on his shoulder; when he glanced up at her, she smiled at him. "See what I'm wearing? This is the uniform."

"Eh?" he asked, stepping away and examining it with a blink. "It looks like a yellow nightgown with puffed sleeves."

"I agree," Saelind chuckled, smile dying out when she turned her head and looked at the doors. "Hey, Ami?"

"Yes?" the girl asked, blinking at her. "What is it?"

"Could you keep an eye on my brother for a few minutes?" she inquired. "I have to go find Emilia."

"Um, of course," the girl exclaimed. "Yeah, we'll show him the ropes and get to know him while you do that."

"Saelvan?" Saelind murmured, turning her head and glancing at her twin. "I'll be back in a few, so don't panic. Okay?"

"Yes'm," he mumbled, watching her with somber eyes. "I'll try not to."

So saying, the girl tore for the doors and made her way in the direction of the principle's offices.

However, just as she made it to the corridor she needed to turn at, a woman with blonde hair turned and she smacked face first into her stomach. Both of them let out squawks of alarm and mild pain from the collision.

"What the—?!" Saelind squeaked, looking up at the woman with a startled expression. "Emilia?!

"Oh, Saelind!" the woman exclaimed, eyes lighting up despite her exhausted expression. "I was just on my way to come find you. Ah, but your hair is a mess! Just look at that those locks sticking out at odd angles! That's so not lady-like!"

Saelind narrowed her eyes when her cousin fussed over her like a mother would.

"Alright, alright! Enough!" the black-haired girl snapped, pushing the woman's hands away from her hair and glaring daggers into her face. "Is it true that our mother was in an accident?! And if so, why didn't you tell me at the hospital? Most importantly, what the hell are you doing here again, and why did you come back?!"

"I didn't tell you because it wasn't the right time, and I came back because I was genuinely worried about you," the woman replied with a look of slight disbelief. "You may not realize this, but if a student from Ouran ends up in the Hospital, their relatives are contacted immediately."

"You usually only show up when my mother needs something from me," the girl growled, "so spill it: what do you really want?!"

"Fine," the woman finally sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Initially, I came here to bring you back to Moscow. However, a lot of shady things are happening back in Russia, and since I feel like it's not safe for you there, my plan is no longer necessary."

Saelind's visible eye became dull as a slightly bitter feeling prickled through her heart.

_So I have to get hit by a truck in order to get a visit from someone?_ she wondered, glaring down at the floor with a scowl. _That makes me feel great. Just great. I'm so loved by my family._

"Aw, what happened to our cute little troublemaker?" Emilia asked, pinching Saelind's right cheek. "You've gotten grumpy like that what's-his-face back home. You know, the Dmitri boy… oh, that child always looked so angry growing up."

Saelind's heart nearly cracked and she snarled, making the woman jump away from her.

"Don't group me with someone like him," she icily hissed, clenching her fists. "You don't know anything about hm. _Or_ me, apparently."

"I take it the two of you don't get along anymore?" the woman asked, smirking at her. "I thought you two had something going on."

"Are you nuts?" Saelind asked bluntly. "How can you get along with someone who considers your existence to be a pebble in their shoe?"

"I see," Emilia murmured, running a hand through her soft blonde hair. "Sorry to hear that."

"Anyway, I get why you're here, but what is Saelvan doing here?" Saelind lowly demanded, turning her head with a suspicious glare and baring her fangs. "Why is he moving in with me and being transferred into Ouran Academy? And as a _girl,_ of all things?"

Her cousin tensed slightly at the question.

"Well, let's just say that he wanted to see you so badly that he tried hiding in my suitcase," the woman replied with an expression of mock annoyance. "When I found him, he hid in the trunk of my car—and I didn't notice him again until we got to the airport, so in the end I simply had to take him with me. I decided to leave him here, too."

Saelind narrowed her eyes: she didn't buy it.

At all.

"Tell me the truth," she stated sourly, revealing how sharp her teeth were. "If you don't, I swear to god I'll bite you like I did three years ago, so tell me. Right now."

Emilia flinched and hid her right hand behind her back: truth be told, there were two circular scars resting just behind her knuckles.

"Your brother's life was threatened again," the blonde reluctantly murmured, making the dark-haired girl twitch. "In the end, we decided that this might actually be a safer country than ours is right now. So, I went back to Moscow while you were in the hospital and had a conference with my father. We've both decided that he'll be safest here, by your side, and away from all the nutcases who want to destroy any chance our family has at keeping our country from falling apart."

Saelind lowered her eyes and sighed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden.

"So, you're asking me to switch places with him again," she stated in a small voice, looking up with a glazed eye. "Are you sure there won't be any nutcases with guns around, or will I have to keep my eyes and ears open like last time?"

"It'd be safer and smarter to stay on your guard," the woman murmured, eyes saddening when Saelind rubbed her right side. "Be careful, all right? I don't want to do this, but he really is the safest when he's with you. Plus, ever since you left, he's been... well, let's just say that he wasn't the same after you were gone. Now, I'm not exactly done with the principle, so... I have to run, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind," the girl muttered, running a hand through her hair and flipping it off her shoulders. "Take care of yourself."

"You, too," the woman murmured, giving her a long look. "Ya know? I'm actually kind of proud of the person you've become."

So saying, Emilia Svid Khova set a hand on her head and mussed up her hair before walking down the hall, leaving behind a stunned girl who didn't know how to respond. That was the first praise her cousin had ever given her: lifting a hand and touching her head, she turned and watched as the woman walked into a nearby office.

After a moment, Saelind shook her head and made to go back to the Host Club, but to do so... she passed by the office.

The girl's sensitive ears picked up voices talking inside, but she heard something that made her pause.

Pausing mid-step, Saelind Heseroph closed her visible eye and listened in on the conversation with a small frown.

"... _and that's precisely why I called asking to take Saelind back with me,_" Emila was in the middle of saying. "_I've changed my mind since the situation back home has changed. However, I still have some concerns... first and foremost is the accident._"

"_Isn't she doing fine now, though_?" the Chairman calmly asked. "_I've seen her myself a few times: she seems to have recovered quite nicely."_

"_Sir,_ s_he was hit by a truck going thirty miles an hour last week: if it were anybody else, they would have been killed on impact, but Saelind is abnormally resistant to pain and her reflexes are incredible,_" the woman argued. "_I know she's hard to handle and a lot of trouble, but I really just don't think that she can keep her brother safe all by herself. I'd appreciate it if you'd have someone watch over her and her brother no matter the cost._"

"Of course, my dear," the man replied calmly. "My grandson has already expressed some confidential information to me about that same girl. Apparently, he wants to keep the fact that she's a girl a secret from the entire school."

"Eh?" Emilia scoffed, sounding shocked. "What do you mean?"

"I've been told that it's so she can stay in their little club..." the man chuckled, then sighed. "It's quite amusing and tear-jerking at the same time, actually... I've been told that the Ootori family is raising a fund to give that girl a second chance at having a normal life. They're going to be sponsoring a surgery to give that girl her looks back."

There was a brief silence, but in that moment, Saelind covered her mouth with a startled teal eye.

Soon, they began shining with tears, so she clenched her jaw and squeezed them shut with shaking shoulders.

Until that moment, she hadn't believed Kyouya's claim was true... she hadn't thought he would ever follow through with it.

Then, her cousin spoke up again.

"Does Saelind really think that getting her old appearance back will change anything?" Emilia demanded in a bitter voice. "That girl... she doesn't get it at all. It's not the fact that her face was messed up, it's the fact that she killed her mother's best friend. It would have been easier for everyone all around if _she_ had died in the fire instead of Alexandria Kikiroshi."

Saelind's teal eye snapping open wide upon hearing the woman's words: the world around her turned grey and a rushing noise filled her ears as she tried to process what she'd just heard. Eye large and blank, the girl started breathing hard and touched her chest as her heart sped up. In a weird way, what she'd just heard almost seemed to make sense.

Alexandria Kikiroshi.

The connection was Ami.

A crushing feeling immediately smashed against her heart and she collapsed to her knees: shakily tilting her head back, the girl choked and clutched her head with jerky movements. The familiarity... the feeling that she'd known Ami for a long time... the relief and warmth being near her had always brought.

She was the spitting image of Alex.

Alexandria had been her mother... and Saelind had gotten her killed.

Shaking violently with terror, the girl's pupil dilated when she realized that Ami would hate her if she ever found out the truth.

That one shred of knowledge caused the Panic overwhelm her mind: as she sat there, staring blankly out at nothing, all human sense seemed to leave her mind and her animal instincts took over. Burning walls and floors replaced the school halls around her as she shakily crawled to her feet: after taking a step forward and collapsing due to her rubbery knees, Saelind pulled herself to her feet.

Her legs almost gave out a second time, so she howled in agony: she had to get out of here!

She couldn't stay... no.

She had to run.

Run.

Run away.

Stumbling, the tiny girl ran down the hall with her long hair flying.

Like a wild animal, the girl ran down the dark halls of the main academy, tearing straight past a figure wearing a dark cloak and not even noticing how it jumped backwards in alarm. She tore through building towards the huge double doors that would take her outside to the grounds. When she opened one of them, a wave of cold night air hit her head on, lifting her thigh length tresses even further into the air and cooling her burning body.

However, her panic attack didn't cease.

Her instincts drove her on, sending the girl running across the grass even faster—away from the confines of the building.

Away from Ami.

Sprinting like a gazelle being chased by a lion, Saelind jumped over hedges and tore through the underbrush, ignoring the branches that were scratched her up. It wasn't long before she found herself having covered most of the grounds and nearing the wall that she and Nekozawa had climbed over. Hyperventilating as a dark feeling of claustrophobia set in, she skidded to a halt and twisted her body around to start running another direction—but she came to a jolting stop when she unexpectedly collided with someone else.

"H-Heseroph-san! What's wrong!" a familiar voice stammered. "Are you okay?!"

two hands roughly grabbed her small shoulders and tried to make her turn. Breathing heavily, Umehito Nekozawa looked into her huge, wild-looking teal eye as he searched for an answer to her behavior. He'd been running after her and shouting her name since the moment he'd seen her running down the hall like a spooked horse.

Initially, he'd thought she was ignoring him on purpose because something had made her angry again, but then—when she continued to run away despite the fact he was screaming her name—he'd looked closer and realized that she was running with no particular direction in mind. Her movements had also been abnormally jerky, so he'd immediately known something was wrong.

Forehead slick with sweat and dark hair sticking to her face, Saelind's heart palpitated and hammered against the inside of her chest so hard that it felt like it was trying to jump out. She struggled to breathe and thrashed around in Umehito's grip. He gave her a shake with the hopes that it would bring her out of whatever state she was in, but to no avail: unresponsive, the girl's wild teal eye darted about looking for an escape.

"SAELIND!" the boy finally roared, shoving her incredibly small body against the wall with all of his strength. "WAKE UP!"

The impact knocked the air out of the tiny girl's lungs, stopping all of her movements.

Paralyzed and limp, Saelind Heseroph slid down onto the damp grass as she coughed and gasped. Umehito looked down at the violently shaking girl with a fit of his own shivers due to the fact that he didn't know what to do. After a moment, he shakily knelt down next to her, ignoring the moist grass that started dampening his knees and his cat puppet.

"H-Heseroph-san," he stated weakly, staring at her with alarmed blue eyes. "What's wrong?! What happened to you?!"

The girl didn't look at him, but her convulsive breathing began to shake her already trembling body. When he tried to place a hand on her shoulder, she flinched under his touch and shrank down like a frightened animal. Umehito tightened his hold on her shoulder when the girl began to struggle, because he'd seen this type of behavior before.

However, when the girl shook her head and started howling like a dog in pain, her jumped in shock.

She continued howling, eyes frantic and vacant with fright: that's when it hit him.

The girl was having an extreme panic attack.

His little sister was susceptible to them as well, and it was only thanks to those experiences that he knew what to do.

"Shhh… shh, it's okay, it's okay…" the cloaked boy whispered, gently setting a hand on the terrified girl's head. "Calm down... you're safe... everything's okay, shhh..."

Saelind stopped howling and her struggling lessened, but her body continued to tremble and her eye was still sightless: she had gone into a state of shock. Umehito slowly slid his arms around her frail shoulders and rocked her back and forth as he soothed her: they stayed like that for a long time before she finally calmed down enough to see what was around her.

"W-w-w-what happened?" she croaked, pulling away with a blank expression and shivering all over; her eye was utterly devoid of emotion and she seemed more than a little shaken. "Why... no... no more. I can't. I..."

"Shh..." Nekozawa soothed, waiting until her breathing had somewhat returned to normal to touch her again; when she was merely staring off into space, the boy gently gripped her small chin and tilted her head to make her face him. "Heseroph-san... are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Saelind replied with deadened eyes, looking even more emotionless than when she'd first come to Ouran Academy; then, closing her eye, she gently pushed him away. "Don't worry about me."

Honestly, the emptiness in her eye frightened him for some reason: he'd never seen anyone look like that before.

"What happened?" Nekozawa carefully inquired, standing up and helping the girl to her feet.

"Nothing," she replied lifelessly, avoiding his scrutinizing gaze. "It's not your problem."

"Heseroph-san," he sighed, looking at her with concerned ice blue eyes. "Please..."

"It was nothing," Saelind replied in that same, disturbingly lifeless voice. "Don't worry."

Uncomfortable with her response, Nekozawa made a daringly bold move and took hold of her wrists.

She looked at him with that same deadened eye as he held her in place.

"What happened back there?" he asked in a serious tone; the girl immediately looked away, avoiding his gaze as her small body trembled at the memory of falling through the floor and Alexandria's scream echoing above her. The guilt assaulted her all over again, and Ami's face flashed behind her eyes, making her feel like a monster.

She really did deserve the name she'd been given.

"It was nothing. I just felt claustrophobic and panicked," the girl replied with one of her most sour tones; however, her limp body and lifeless eyes betrayed her. As convincing as she sounded, the half-Russian boy wasn't buying her words; Umehito wasn't stupid and he immediately knew that she was only telling him a part of the story.

"Fine," he muttered, letting his Beelzeneff puppet shake it's head in annoyance. "Let's go back."

Saelind watched as he turned away, clearly unhappy with her—but there was no way in hell that she would ever admit the truth. Trying to follow him, the girl managed to take only three steps steps forward before her knees buckled and she involuntarily slammed into the dirt. Nekozawa jumped and turned around when she fell and watched as she struggled to regain her footing like a newborn foal.

"C'mon, get on my back," he muttered with a sigh, crouching with his back facing her. She silently crawled over to him and weakly climbed onto his back without protest, wrapping her slender arms around his neck. "You're oddly complacent, you know."

"You try anything and my knee will hit your groin," she grumbled. "Don't forget that, you Shady Beanpole."

"_Hai, Hai,_" he sighed, rolling his eyes. "Let's get you back to the Host Club."

Saelind shivered and closed her eyes, not wanting to face reality.

The weight hovering over her heart had intensified so much that it was practically crushing her.

"I'm sorry," Saelind whispered quietly, staring out at nothing when he finally lifted her off the ground and began walking.

"What for?" he asked in a startled tone.

"I'm always causing everyone trouble," she replied, resting her head against his neck and staring off to the side. "I'm sorry."

"Um..." Nekozawa uncomfortably drawled, not knowing how to respond. "I... well, you've never caused trouble for me... right?"

"Yeah, I know... but I'm still sorry for causing everyone so much trouble," Saelind grimly replied, voice sounding oddly expressionless—even for her. "It'll all end soon, though, so... thanks for everything."

Her words rang through his mind long after he dropped her off in front of the Host Club.

It'll end soon, though.

What did she mean by that?


	30. Chapter 29: Heart to Heart

**Author's note:** Someone asked if Saelind actually had a twin. The answer is yes: he looks exactly like her, which is weird and creepy considering both of them are in their early twenties now and they STILL look identical. It's mind boggling how alike they are, especially since Vanny is a guy. Doesn't change the fact that he looks like a girl, though.

...Sorry Vanny.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Heart to Heart**

Something was wrong.

Instinctively, he could tell, even though there was no visible change in Saelind's behavior after she returned to the Host Club to grab her things. Saelvan watched his little sister walk along the dark sidewalk with uncertain eyes, not understanding the waves of unease that were washing over him.

Something was definitely wrong; he just didn't know what it was.

"Lindy?" the boy quietly inquired, skipping ahead and falling into step beside her. "Are you all right?"

"Huh?" the girl mumbled, looking at him with glazed eyes. "Oh... yeah, I'm fine."

Saelvan's face, however, had gone bone white at the sight of her expression and he didn't say another word after seeing it. The two of them walked side by side in the direction of the girl's apartment, and when they finally arrived, the girl opened the door before leading her brother into her home.

He blinked and looked around in curiosity before gazing at the barren floors.

"This reminds me of your bedroom back home," he murmured, setting his backs on the ground and peering into each and every room like a curious puppy. "What are these floors made of?"

"They're called Tatami mats," Saelind quietly explained, setting her own bag down with a sigh, "and you're supposed to take your shoes off in the wooden area before walking on them. Just in case, you should remember that for future reference."

"Yes Ma'am," Saelvan chirped, instantly hurrying over to the entryway and taking off her dress shoes. "Thanks."

"It's late, but I'll get dinner going while you unpack," Saelind explained, turning and heading into the kitchen. "You can put your clothes in the closet. Lord knows I'm probably going to be wearing a few of your things now and then."

"I figured you'd say that," Saelvan laughed, grinning widely. "That's why I brought a lot of clothes!"

"Really?" the girl called from where she was gathering things out of the cupboards. "So, does that mean you brought me some pants and sweatshirts?"

"Yes," Saelvan called, putting all of their things in the closet she mentioned. "So, what's for dinner?"

"Spaghetti," the girl sighed, making the boy frown. "I'm not in a cooking mood tonight, so it's something simple for once."

That right there is what sealed the deal: something was very, very, VERY wrong if Saelind didn't want to cook. Even if she would never admit it out loud, he alone knew just how much she enjoyed getting behind a cook stove. Still, he didn't bring it up until a plate of food was handed to him and Saelind was leaning against the wall with her own. After taking a few bites and closing his eyes in delight at the flavor, he let out a sigh and set his chopsticks down.

Saelind had given him a choice between a fork and the chopsticks, but he'd chosen the latter.

After all, he was going to be living in Japan now, so he'd have to get used to it.

"Hey, Lindy?" Saelvan tentatively inquired, making his twin look up at him. "Are you okay?"

The girl merely blinked and looked at him without answering.

Then she sighed and closed her eye.

"I still don't know how you manage to pick up on things like this," she sourly muttered, taking another bite of her food before lowering the plate and letting out yet another sigh. "No, Vanny, I'm not fine at all. I will be, though... I just need some time to recuperate, that's all. Something bad happened earlier."

"Do you want to talk about what it was or should I leave it alone?" the boy asked, blinking when his sister's visible eye softened and she smiled at him. "I know you don't like people prying."

"It's... not something I want to think about right now," the girl admitted, giving him a nod. "Thank you for the concern, though."

"Okay," he sighed, shrugging and taking another bite of his food. "Still, whenever you want to talk, I'll be right here."

So saying, the twins continued eating their meal, both of them withdrawing into a comfortable silence.

However, when they were done, Saelind took his plate back into the kitchen and washed the dishes before moving back out into the living area and sitting down beside her brother. He glanced at her in curiosity when she scooted in close to his side and set her head on his shoulder: she looked exhausted.

"I missed you," she muttered in a grumpy tone, nuzzling his arm.

"Missed you, too," Saelvan chuckled, smiling in a giddy fashion; however, when his sister's hair slid across her cheek, the boy caught a small glimpse of her hidden scars and his childish grin faded a bit. After a moment, he lifted his hand and brushed his twin's hair off the left side of her face, making her wince.

"What are you doing?" she gently hissed, keeping her face turned away.

"Look at me," the boy retorted just as gently, waiting with soft eyes until his sister reluctantly turned her head to face him; turning slightly, he examined the horrible burns stretching on her cheek and neck with a somewhat solemn demeanor, and after a moment, he lifted his hand and touched her puckered flesh. Saelind's teal eyes, blind and not, flicked down in shame when he gently brushed her hair off of her forehead.

"So, is there a reason you're staring?" she asked, not moving a muscle.

"Yep," he sighed, smiling at her and finally leaning back. "Just checking to see if you're still pretty. As always, yes."

"Weirdo," the girl instantly droned, although her uncomfortable expression immediately relaxed. "I don't understand you."

"Liar," Saelvan argued, giving her a shrug before he leaned back. "It's a shame you keep half of your face covered up... you're beautiful the way you are, Lindy. In reality, I'm the one who doesn't understand."

"What a roundabout way of calling yourself beautiful," the girl sarcastically retorted, smirking despite herself.

"Yep," her brother piped, smiling at her with a triumphant smirk. "Can't deny that!"

When Saelind quietly cracked up over his statement, the boy allowed himself a smile... however, it quickly faded.

Soon, he turned and looked at the sky through the bathroom window with a solemn demeanor.

"What's wrong?" Saelind inquired, looking at him with a tired eye. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." he mumbled, shaking his head. "It's just... there's a lot on my mind."

"Such as?" the girl pressed, looking at him a little more curiously. "Want to talk about it?"

"Saelind," he murmured, not meeting her eyes or even turning to look at her. "Our Mother was sorry for what she said."

The girl's expression darkened a little before the anger faded a bit: if anyone else had said that, she'd have slapped them.

"Why would the Duchess be sorry for that?" the girl snorted, eyes growing half-lidded. "You and I both know that she meant every single word she said to me that morning. If she hadn't meant it, she wouldn't have actually forced me to go away."

"That's not true," Saelvan protested, then faltered when his sister looked at him somberly. "She just... um..."

"Vanny," the girl sighed, patting his arm with a deflated expression, "don't tell me you've forgotten everything she put me through. After seeing what she did to me with your own eyes, how can you expect me to believe that she's sorry for it? I mean, forget the fact that she locked me in a room the size of a closet for six months: before that, everybody acted like I wasn't real because she told them to. Nobody looked at me, and nobody talked to me. Nobody even acknowledged the fact that I existed except for _you."_

"Dad did," the Russian boy countered, sounding more than a little depressed. "Doesn't that count?"

"Well, it's true that he _sometimes_ responded to me," the girl mumbled, averting her eye, "but it was usually by mistake. Most of the time, he focused on you and ignored me completely no matter what I tried to do: I couldn't get anybody's attention at all, even if it was for an emergency. Our mother purposely made life living hell for me."

Saelvan didn't respond, because no matter how much he wanted to deny it, his sister's words were true. The fact that their entire household had lavished so much attention on him and completely ignored her had always bothered the boy. However, he hadn't exactly known how to react to this treatment until he'd hit the age of seven, when the events that had changed his outlook about his sister had occurred.

It was on that day that he'd realized how much he had been hurting her, without even meaning to.

Because of that, he'd promised to be there for her since nobody else aside from him seemed to care.

If the two of them had been treated equally from the start, he probably would have been the happiest boy alive.

Sadly, he couldn't be happy at all because even now his twin sister was suffering alone.

By herself.

After a moment of thought, the boy flopped down on his back and rolled around with a sigh.

"Maaaan, life sucks!" he wailed, rolling around and kicking his legs against the floor. "Don't worry, I'll be right here!"

"Ugh, stop it," Saelind groaned, smacking her forehead. "You're not a little boy anymore."

"Ehhh?" he devilishly inquired, giving her a sly expression; Saelind's eye popped open wide in surprise when he grabbed her arm and pulled her down with a laugh. "Don't act like you're older than me! We may be twins, but the one who's born first is the oldest!"

Saelind immediately forced her brother down on his back, straddled his waist, and pinned him down.

"Wrong!" she stated simply, giving him a smirk. "I say the one who's strongest is the oldest!"

"Is that so?" Saelvan inquired, giving her such a wide grin that his fangs glinted in the moonlight. "Fine by me."

So saying, the boy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and started to resist.

Saelind's eye popped open wide in startled surprise when his wiry muscles bulged.

All of a sudden, he seemed to grow three times stronger than she remembered him ever being, and the girl actually found herself struggling to keep him pinned against the floor. Slowly but surely, her brother began to force her off of him, and she was stunned when he actually managed to turn the tables and pin her down on her own back. The girl struggled against his grip and stared at him with a large eye when he straddled her stomach and pinned her down with a smirk.

"Holy crap!" she exclaimed, struggling against the tight grip he had on her wrists. "When did you get so strong?!"

"When I got older," he chuckled, waggling his eyebrows when she fought against his grip. "I'm stronger than you, sis!"

"Liiiies!" the girl hissed, bucking wildly in order to get her brother off of her. "I'm stronger than... yooou!"

"Hahaha!" he laughed, smirking before he pinned her wrists down against the floor and growled; the girl stared at him with an enormous eye and blinked. "Not anymore... bow before the power of my workout sessions!"

"No... way!" Saelind squeaked, face contorting as she struggled to raise her right arm. "Never!"

"Hey, you're the one who said the strongest one is older," the boy chuckled. "Not me."

Saelind instantly started kicking her legs and flung her head back and forth.

"Vanny, that huuurts!" she whined, staring up at him with puppy eyes. "You're hurting my left arm!"

The boy twitched and instantly let go, face turning pale.

"I-I'm sorry," he stammered, looking horrified when she sat up and rubbed her throbbing wrist. "I didn't mean to."

"Don't worry," the girl sighed, giving him an admiring look. "It's fine. I'm just amazed you got so tough!"

"Well, I did try," he stated softly, lying back down and holding out his hands. "Come here."

"Fine," Saelind sighed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever you say."

Being careful to avoid hurting her side, the girl lay down beside him... and after taking each other's hands, the twins pressed their foreheads together and relaxed: neither one of them knew why doing this had such a calming affect on their lives, but from the time the Heseroph children had been small, they'd always felt safest in this position.

"Hey, Lindy?" Saelvan murmured, making the girl look at his eyes. "Will you please tell me what's wrong?"

The girl blinked and her eye saddened a little before she sighed.

"Fine," she mumbled, closing her eyes. "You're the oldest, after all..."

"I'm not trying to force it out of you," he muttered, making the girl twitch. "I'm just worried, that's all."

"I sort of became friends with Alexandria's daughter, Ami, without even realizing who she was," Saelind bluntly explained, shaking her head with a deadened expression on her face. "Because of my own stupidity, the situation I'm currently stuck in just became a helluva lot more complicated. Even though the signs were all there, I didn't realize it at all... and now, it's killing me because I... I really do like Ami. She's... the only real friend I have here."

Saelvan's eyes widened and he stared at her in shock.

"Are you talking about... Alexandria Kikiroshi's daughter?!" he whispered, hands tightening on her own. "Saelind, tell me what's going on right now! In order for me to understand this situation, I need to know everything that happened to you from the very beginning!"

"Well, it's kind of long and complicated," the girl muttered, letting out a sigh. "But, if you insist, I'll tell ya."

So saying, the girl told her brother about everything that had happened to her since her arrival to Japan, from meeting the Tranny next door to being roped into joining the Host Club, and all the way up until the present moment. By the time she was finished telling him everything that had happened, he was in shock, and not only that, he seemed utterly amazed by everything he'd heard.

"I don't know where to start," Saelvan murmured. "Are they really planning on giving you your looks back?"

"That's what they said," Saelind confirmed, giving an awkward shrug. "I just... don't know how I'll be able to look Ami in the eyes anymore. I mean, I... I practically got her mother killed, Vanny... it's my fault she grew up without a mom, and I know we won't be friends anymore if I tell her. I don't know what to do."

Her brother was silent for a long time.

"I don't, either," he finally stated. "If I were in your shoes, I'd be just as lost."

"I'm... scared," the girl whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her face against the ground. "I don't want to lose the only friend I have, Vanny... she's a real friend, not like all those creeps who used me before I got burned."

The boy gasped the moment she said it, eyes shining in delight.

"If that's the case, then you don't have to worry!" he exclaimed, squeezing her hands in awe. "The answer is right there in front of you! Saelind, if she's a real friend like you say she is, she'll forgive you because that's what real friends do! Sometimes, life doesn't always turn out how we expect it to, and bad things happen! It's not your fault, nor is it hers... so, if you just tell her, I'm sure you'll be surprised!"

The girl turned her eyes away, but she seemed to be taking his words to heart.

"Really?" she asked, finally looking at him. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course I do!" Saelvan retorted, nodding fiercely. "If she's really your friend, she'll accept you no matter what!"

The tight feeling in his chest relaxed when his sister's eye softened somewhat in relief.

"Thanks, bro," she murmured, giving him a weak smile. "I appreciate the advice. I feel a lot better."

"Anytime," he mumbled, turning his head and looking at the ceiling. "Still, it's hard for me to believe that you joined such a ridiculous club. I have to admit, I think it's kinda funny!"

"Well, it's gonna be even funnier seeing you sitting in a dress with a bunch of giggling girls," Saelind chuckled, sticking her tongue out when her brother scowled. "You will request to sit with me, won't you?"

"Yeah, of course," he sighed, rolling his eyes. "As long as you don't take any weird pictures, that is."

"I won't, Scout's honor," she exclaimed, grinning widely since it wasn't exactly a direct lie; Kyouya and the Hitachiin twins were probably going to be taking lots of weird photos, anyway. "Still, don't waste your pocket money on a new uniform... you can wear the one I have stuffed in the closet."

"Eh?!" he exclaimed, looking mildly startled. "You already have the girl's uniform?"

"Duh," she retorted, closing her eyes. "It arrived on my doorstep the day after I moved in. I hated the way it looked, though, so I lied to the school and told them I couldn't afford it. You know me: dresses of any variety are a no-no."

"Wow," the boy deadpanned, giving her a half-lidded stare. "That's my sister for ya."

Saelind punched him in the shoulder for that little jab, but after that they giggled and tiredly scooted closer to each other. Still holding each other's hands, they got comfortable enough to fall asleep and began to drift off.

"Hey," the girl sleepily drawled when she was almost out of it. "Vanny?"

"Hmm?" the boy questioned, not opening his eyes. "Wha' is it?"

"Nothing much," the girl sighed. "I just wanted to say I love you."

"Meh, I love you, too," her brother groggily mumbled. "G'Night, Lindy... sweet dreams."

However, Saelind's dreams were anything but sweet.

The moment her muscles relaxed and she drifted off, she fell clean into a nightmare.

Although, in hindsight, it wasn't just been a simple dream... it was more of a memory. Not like this dream was anything new... after all, Saelind was only plagued by three different nightmares, and they were all literally the worst pieces of her memory. In her sleep, she constantly relived the moments that had caused her the most trauma. Tonight, possibly because of the talk she'd had with her brother, it was about the last fight she and her mother had gotten into.

The dream started as it always did...

_She was standing in her mother's study with her brother beside her. _

_Both of them were staring at the woman in disbelief, since they couldn't believe what they'd just heard._

_"What do you mean by that...?" Saelind slowly demanded, staring at her mother's face in disbelief. "I don't get it!"_

_"I'm not going to repeat myself," the duchess stated in a cold tone, turning her frigid teal eyes on her daughter. "Your father made a vow to me. If I send you away, he'll come home. So, you're going to be moving overseas first thing tomorrow morning. Go pack your things."_

_"You can't be serious!" Saelind choked, looking at her in outrage. "You're sending me away because that LIAR told you he would come back?! Are you nuts?! What are you gonna do if Saelvan gets hurt while I'm away?!"_

_"Well, with that burned face of yours, you can't take his place any longer," the woman sniffed, making the boy standing beside the girl turn bone white. "You're useless now, so there's no point in having you here, anyway."_

_"Excuse me?" Saelind hissed, narrowing her eyes at her mother. "WHAT did you just say?"_

_"You heard me," the woman retorted, giving her a fierce glare. "Go pack your things. Now. That's an order."_

_"But Mother, this isn't fair," Saelvan retorted, throwing his arms around Saelind. "I don't want her to go."_

_"Let go of her, honey," the duchess commanded, narrowing her eyes. "Right now."_

_When the boy timidly did as he was told, Saelind walked right up to her mother and glared into her eyes._

_"If I'm so useless," Saelind stated coldly, hiding the pain coursing through her heart, "why did you give birth to me?"_

_However, she wasn't expecting what came next._

_Before she could react, the Grand Duchess of Russia shoved her daughter backwards so forcefully that she lost her balance and went through the stained glass window that separated the study from the grand hall. Skidding across the floor and cutting her hands on the glass, Saelind looked up at her mother in shock when she stepped forward. __Her eyes were so cold and merciless that hell could have been frozen solid._

_"You were a mistake," she stated in a quietly pleasant tone. "I obviously never SHOULD have given birth to you."_

_With that, she lifted her head up high and whisked back over to her desk, ignoring her bleeding daughter. _

_However, those words had pierced Saelind's heart._

_For the first time since the burns on her body had healed, her teal eye had filled with tears: even her brother's frantic fretting and soothing couldn't keep those tears from spilling down her cheek. Even after her hands had been tended to and the glass had been pulled out of her skin, her mother's words had followed her._

_She couldn't forget that her own mother had said she'd never wanted her._

_Even if her brother said the woman was sorry for everything she'd said, Saelind didn't believe him._

_Because, quite plainly, she was alone._

_She'd been alone from the very beginning, and that's exactly how it would remain._

_Nothing would ever change the fact that she was unlovable._

_After all, if her own mother couldn't even love her, how could she expect someone else to try?_

_The answer was simple._

_She couldn't._


	31. Chapter 30: Carnival of Rust

**Chapter Thirty: Carnival of Rust**

_The shower is a liar,_ Saelind silently thought, sighing as she ran the vanilla and honeysuckle shampoo through her hair. _I hate it._

The water was literally whispering things in her ear, things that told her today was going to be a good one since her brother was going to be living with her However, since she was planning on talking to Ami after club activities, she knew it wasn't going to be a good day at all. She was going to crash and burn. Plus, there was also the frightening warning that Emilia had given her about people going after her brother to worry about.

Despite her reluctance, she'd already decided to ask Kyouya to watch her brother while she and Ami settled things.

When Saelind finally rinsed the lather off, she held her hands over her ears in order to prevent any water from getting in. Ear infections could render her unable to do anything for at least a week, and if she got one, she'd end up tripping every time she tried to walk—which she was just dying to do. Plus, she would end up running into things way more often since her balance would be screwed up for a while. With the shampoo out, she did the whole conditioner routine: the Russian girl allowed that to sit for a few minutes, feeling mildly content with her new life for once.

She had no doubt it was the presence of her twin sleeping in the next room causing this change.

The black-haired girl was so content, in fact, that she did what hadn't been done in almost five years.

She sang in the shower.

Singing quietly to herself in Russian and dancing a little jig, the girl lathered her hair for a while before she stuck her head under the flow of water, covering her ears to keep them as dry as possible. Her dark tresses slid down over her shoulders and pooled against her lower thighs, enshrouding her like a wet blanket as she rinsed herself off. Once she was sure that all of the conditioner was out, Saelind turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.

After pulling back her locks, the slender girl wrapped a fluffy white towel around her chest and tucked the corner under her arm to keep it up; then she wrapped another one around her hair. Since there was now a boy living in her home, she made sure the bathroom door was locked before wiping a small circle out of the condensation on her mirror: then she checked her reflection. Seeing her own face these days sometimes made her wonder about how different it would look once it had gone back to normal.

Would she look any older since before the fire?

Would she be pretty?

Saelind didn't think so, but she couldn't keep herself from wishing that might be the case.

Then again, anything was better than being burned: even if she was ugly, having her old face back was better than having a charred one.

However, since it hurt to even try thinking about things like this, Saelind finally shook her head and turned away from the mirror.

With a little bit of effort, the girl dragged her school shirt over her head and pulled her damp tresses out through the neck hole. Then she donned her blazer and buttoned it up, being careful to put each button in its proper hole: she'd had a few misplacement issues in the past, but then again, who hasn't? After that, she jerked her dress slacks on, wiggling her tiny backside to get them up. Once she was completely dressed, Saelind started to part her hair before she remembered the previous evening and paused.

_"I honestly don't get why you hide half of your face... you're beautiful the way you are, Lindy."_

Uncomfortably pulling on a tendril of her long hair, the girl closed her eyes with a sigh and grabbed her brush yet again.

Then, she parted her hair in a symmetrical manner and braided the strands resting on either side of her face before looping them under her ears.

After that, she braided the majority of her tresses and hooked the smaller braids into it before adding them to the flow. When she was finished, the girl opened her eyes and stared at her entire face with a somewhat nervous expression. Her scars were on full display, and her cloudy left eye seemed to reflect all light in a glassy manner: even though it moved to follow the direction of her right eye for the most part, sometimes it didn't do so all the way and it made her look as though she were either cross-eyed or cockeyed. And to put it bluntly, she hated that way more than her scars, since it made her look like a dimwitted idiot with mental issues.

Or, at least that's what she personally believed.

After fastening her braid with a black ribbon, Saelind exited the bathroom with a sigh, wondering why she was letting Saelvan's statement change her routine.

However, she paused when she realized that her brother was sprawled out on the floor in nothing but his boxers and a black tank top.

One skinny arm was tucked underneath his head and his legs were sprawled out in a fairly typical position for a guy.

Even more amusing than that, his mouth was wide open, he was snoring, and there was a thin stream of drool on his chin. Saelind's eye softened and she giggled, pressing a hand against her mouth at the sight. However, her smile faded after a moment and she gazed at him for a few minutes. This boy was literally the only person who could make her feel like she wasn't a freak, but then again, Ami Kikiroshi wasn't really such a bad person, either, if she thought about it.

Maybe today wouldn't be such a problem after all... if Saelvan was right, things would be better for everyone all around.

Still, Saelvan didn't have a clue just how simple his life was.

In fact, nobody around her knew how easy they had it.

And sometimes, she really wished she didn't, either.

"Sleepyhead," Saelind murmured, padding over and squatting down beside her twin. "Wake up... it's time to get ready for school."

"Huh?" Saelvan drawled, blearily opening his large eyes and staring at her in a stupid fashion; the girl chuckled again and rocked back on her heels. "Eh? G'Morning Lindy..."

"Morning, Vanny," she murmured, poking his cheek a few times. "Wake up. You're still drooling, buster: I can tell you'll just fall back asleep if I leave."

The moment she said that, his eyes popped open wide and he sat up, frantically rubbing his mouth.

"I am not drooling," he muttered, giving her a tired look. "Meanie."

"Yeah, yeah, keep deluding yourself," the girl sighed, rolling her eye; however, she didn't realize that he was staring at her blankly until he spoke again.

"Your hair is different today," Saelvan stated quietly, lifting a hand and touching her scarred flesh. "It looks nice."

"I decided to take your advice for a temporary change," Saelind reluctantly grumbled, looking away when he beamed and jumped up. "Depending on the kind of reactions I get today, I might consider doing this more often... maybe. Now, get your skinny ass up and get dressed!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Saelvan laughed, grinning like a fox before he dove into the closet; coming out with the yellow Ouran uniform, the boy tore into the bathroom and a flurry of thuds and grunts met her ears. Saelind checked her watch with a sigh, but she jumped when a knock on the front door met her ears. "Eh? Lindy, is someone here?!"

"Saelind-chan," Haruhi's familiar voice called. "Are you up yet? If you don't hurry, we're gonna be late!"

"I'm waiting on my brother," the girl called back, planting her chin on her hands without even bothering to open the door. "He's taking forever to get dressed."

"Oh, be quiet!" Saelvan snapped, making the girl smirk. "You know it takes longer for girls to get dressed than guys! It's why I hate cross-dressing so much!"

So saying, he stumbled out of the bathroom with a huff: when he planted his hands on his hips in a fairly boyish fashion, Saelind burst into a fit of hysteria.

Laughing loudly, the girl clutched her stomach and pointed at her brother with a huge eye.

"VANNY!" she squealed, laughing like a hyena. "You look ridiculous! HAAAAH!"

"Shut up!" he snapped, sulking as he poked the puffed sleeves on his arms. "Seriously though... this outfit really is revolting."

Saelind merely continued laughing, but while she did so she got up and left the apartment, walking right past Haruhi: the brunette stared at her in alarm before peering inside the apartment and gazing at her twin brother. However, when she beheld the red-faced boy standing stiff as a washboard, her cheeks puffed up and she covered her mouth before hurrying after Saelind. For some reason, the sleeves on the boy's new uniform were four times larger than they should have been, which made the outfit almost comical. The Russian girl waited by the sidewalk for her twin, but once he finally came out, they had to run in order to avoid being late.

However, she had never gone to school feeling so happy, not even once since she'd moved to Japan, and the realization that she felt content shocked her to the core.

Once they'd arrived at Ouran, Haruhi hurried on ahead and Saelind glanced at her brother with a soft eye.

"Do you think you can get to your first class all right?" she asked, lifting her gloved hand and touching her brother's cheek. "You do remember where it is, right?"

"Yeah, I'll manage," he murmured back, touching her face as well; the two of them hugged and pressed their foreheads together before pulling back. "I'll be requesting to see you today at that weird club of yours, okay?"

"Ja, that sounds good," the girl replied, giving her twin a wave when he daintily hiked up his skirts and ran down the gorgeous hall. "Have a good first day, Saelvan."

Just as Saelind turned and was about to go inside her classroom, someone bumped into her arm from behind and caused her to drop her bag.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Heseroph-san!" a black-haired boy who sat two seats away from her sighed, bending down and picking the bag up. "That was my... fault... huh?"

When the boy looked up and saw her face, his expression changed from apologetic to fearful: he reminded the girl of an animal that had been kicked for no reason whatsoever.

Saelind stared at him in irritated confusion, feeling at a loss as to why his demeanor had gone weird.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a neutral tone, quirking an eyebrow as she took the bag from his shaking hand; if it was up to her, she would have chosen to remain distant. "Thanks for grabbing my bag, Manabe-san..."

"Uh," the boy muttered, blinking with frightened brown eyes before he glanced around and hastily walked into the room. "Bye."

His departure and lack of response made the girl frown in confusion and worry, since he had obviously tried to avoid directly interacting with her.

"Wow!" a surprised voice exclaimed, making the girl jump. "Who is this?!"

Saelind turned around and looked at the boy who'd spoken with furrowed brows, feeling completely confused for a moment. After a few seconds of staring at his sly expression, the girl blinked when she recognized him: it had been a while since she'd seen him around, but for some reason, Genji Momozono was leering at her.

"Can I help you?" Saelind inquired, catching the attention of the students inside her classroom; several girls who frequented the Host Club glared at Genji since they still remembered the last time he'd visited their homeroom. "If not, I have to get to class."

"Oh, don't worry... I was just thinking you seem much more comfortable," the delinquent sighed, holding out his hand. "Anyway, I'm here to apologize for my actions."

Saelind quirked an eyebrow before she tentatively extended her own hand.

"You're forgiven, I guess," the girl muttered, waiting for him to shake her small hand; however, the moment she clasped his palm, a sharp pain sliced into her skin and she hissed in surprise. Instantly leaping away and bristling like a cat, the girl waved her hand. "Ouch! Ow, ow, ow! Holy shit, that hurt! What on earth did you just...?"

She got her answer when she pulled her hand away: it was dripping blood.

"Saelind!" Haruhi gasped, jumping to her feet and staring at the girl in shock. "You're bleeding!"

The moment she said it, Renge, the Hitachiin twins, and every girl who had ever visited the Host club instantly stood up as well before hurrying over to the door.

When Genji turned to smirk at his buddies, all three of them burst into laughter.

"This is a message from someone outside the school," the burly boy snickered, leaning close to Saelind's face. "You should be careful."

"Fuck..." Saelind spat, shakily looking at her hand: there was something sticking out of it. "What the hell? Is it glass?!"

With a grimace, she gripped the edges of whatever the object was and jerked it out of her palm with a yelp.

When something metal landed on the ground, however, Haruhi's gaze flicked down and she bent over to touch it "

Her eyes instantly widened.

"Oh, God... this is a razor!" she whispered, looking up at Genji with outraged eyes. "This thing is dangerous and contraband in school!"

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" another girl exclaimed.

"How could you hurt Sael-kun?!" a third person shouted. "He never did anything to you!"

"You're a terrible person!" a fourth girl cried.

The boys turned and swaggered down the hall, laughing and ignoring the chorus of outraged voices that followed them. Saelind, on the other hand, merely clenched her fist and squeezed: blood trickled from her skin and landed on the floor, making several people stare in horror. Haruhi, however, frantically clasped her arm.

"I'm taking you to the nurse," she stated firmly, dragging the girl down the hall towards the infirmary. "Then, we're going to talk to the Principle."

"No," Saelind firmly commanded, making the brunette pause. "There's no point: let's just get my hand taken care of and forget about it. In truth, I think he might have actually done me a favor..."

"Eh?!" Haruhi choked, clutching her shoulders and shaking her. "Are you light-headed from blood-loss or something?! He stuck a razor in your hand!"

"He also said it was a message from someone outside of the school," Saelind pointed out, making the taller girl pause. "That piece of info is something I take seriously."

"Why, though?" Haruhi inquired, looking utterly confused. "I don't get it at all."

The Russian girl sighed in dismay, and after a moment she reluctantly decided to explain a few things to give her a hint on the situation.

"Okay, look," Saelind muttered, looking around and making sure they were alone before leaning forward. "My brother's life was threatened by someone back in Russia, and because of that, he transferred into Ouran so he could stay near me. At the moment, I'm kind of acting as his body guard."

"Eh?!" Haruhi whispered, eyes widening in shock. "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack," the black-haired girl grimly replied, nodding twice. "Now that you know, don't bring it up again. And tell everyone that I've forgiven those jerks later."

So saying, she went to the infirmary on her own and had her hand wrapped up and disinfected before returning to class. People fretted over her all morning, but Saelind barely even noticed since she was looking forward to lunch time more than anything else so far. Simply because lunch time is when she would be able to talk with Ami. Classes moved rather slowly, but when bell signaled that it was noon, Saelind stood up and left the classroom with a determined expression.

Slowly moving up the stairs, she headed for the roof since that was where she and Ami often waited for each other.

However, when she made it outside, the girl was sitting with her back against the wall and looking thoroughly immersed in a book she'd rented at the library: her large, owlish eyes were wide with wonder behind her glasses, and her cherubic cheeks were rosy. However, her curly brown hair was gleaming in the sunlight, and for a few moments, Saelind hesitated: all of a sudden, she wanted to run away and pretend like she didn't know anything.

Sadly, she was too late: Ami glanced up at her with a blink after turning the page of her book, and her face broke into a cheerful grin that made Saelind's heart knot up.

"Hiya!" she called, waving at the dark-haired girl. "Hey, come over here! I have some good news for you!"

Saelind wordlessly came over and sat down beside the girl.

"You do?" she inquired, tentatively hooking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What is it?"

"I kind of asked Tamaki we could all have a day off yesterday since things have been kind of hectic lately," she exclaimed, then winced and let out a sigh. "Truth be told, he said he couldn't ask his members to abandon their guests for personal matters unless it was an emergency. Still, I told him that I wanted to take you to this new theme park that opened up near the southern half of the city, and he decided to have our activity be a fun day out at the park! All of the necessary pamphlets have been handed out, and everyone who's going knows about it... but guess what the best part is?!"

"What?" Saelind stammered, staring at her warily. "What is it?"

"Today, I'm requesting to sit with you instead of Tamaki!" she gushed, making the dark-haired girl stiffen in shock. "I know, right?! It's my first time switching, ever!"

Saelind was speechless... after hearing that, she couldn't say anything at all.

She didn't have the courage, especially since Ami was smiling at her so brightly.

"That makes me happy," the Russian girl mumbled, shrinking into her blazer like a turtle and staring at the ground with solemn eyes. "Does that mean I get to have fun with you at the theme park, too?"

"Of course!" Ami laughed, pushing her glasses up her nose before she paused; blinking she leaned forward and stared at her face. "Hey! You changed your hairstyle!"

"Y-yeah, I did," Saelind stammered, self-consciously touching a glossy strand of her hair. "My brother said I should try something different... d-does it look weird?"

"No way!" Ami giggled, lightly punching her in the arm. "You look totally cute, Sael-chan! You should do your hair like this more often!"

The girl's teal eye softened and the ice around her heart melted in an instant: mouth tilting upwards into a sad smile, Saelind turned and looked at Ami with a sigh.

Then, shaking her head, the dark-haired girl lunged forward and threw her arms around her neck.

Ami let out a squawk of surprise and blinked rapidly when she found herself staring at the sky over the dark-haired girl's shoulder.

"Thank you so much," the dark-haired girl whispered weakly, making the Asian girl swallow with alarmed eyes. "I'm glad that you're my friend."

So saying, she finally let go before getting to her feet and looking at the sky; then, turning and holding out her hand, Saelind stared at her with half-lidded eyes.

"Weirdo," Ami sighed, rolling her eyes as she took the proffered hand. "You've really changed since your brother got here, haven't you?"

"Maybe," the dark-haired girl grumpily admitted, giving a gruff shrug. "Maybe not."

"Well, let's go eat lunch and get to class," the cherubic brunette sighed, stretching with a cheerful grin. "I'm excited for this afternoon."

"Me, too," Saelind muttered, watching as her friend marched towards the rooftop doors. "Sort of."

With that, she went back to the classroom, ate lunch, and waited for the time that she would be able to go to the Host Club.

Later that same day, Saelvan attended the club as a guest for the first time.

The only difference this time was the fact that everyone was wearing casual clothes for the outing.

All of Saelind's regulars were dressed up in exceedingly adorable outfits, since they'd wanted to look cute for the trip to the theme park.

Vanny, on the other hand, had thrown on a simple pair of jeans and a familiar baggy green sweatshirt: the girls gave him some funny looks, but those quickly stopped when Saelind showed up in an identical outfit. All of the other hosts, Haruhi included, were dressed in a fashionable manner, as well. However, when Ami showed up, Saelvan stared at her with large eyes before glancing at his sister, who nodded.

The girl was dressed in the same outfit that she'd been in on the day that she'd first crashed into Saelind during her morning run.

In short? She looked adorable in a casual sense.

"So, my ladies, are we all ready?!" Tamaki called, dancing around the room with a princely flourish. "If so, say the magic words!"

"Let's go!" everyone gleefully chorused. "Theme park time!"

Thus, everyone made their way out to the stretch limos that Kyouya had called for them.

Mori, Honey, Tamaki, Kyouya, and the twins all rode together in one limo with several of their guests.

Saelind, Saelvan, Ami, and the rest of the girls all rode together in the second one.

When they got there, Kyouya paid for the tickets in full, and everyone was stamped before being allowed to pass through the gates.

Saelind was awed by how many rides their were: for the first time in years, her mouth was hanging open and she looked stunned.

"Wow," she whispered, shaking her head. "This is awesome!"

"Let's go ride the roller coaster!" Ami exclaimed, clasping her hand and pointing at it. "I've never been on one! I so want to try it!"

"Eh?! That sounds like a great idea!" Tamaki exclaimed, looking at everyone before he paused. "All right, everyone: listen up! Today is a day where you get to enjoy yourselves, so let's all go have fun! Sound like a plan?!"

Everyone cheered and clapped before hurrying off in groups: soon, only Saelind, Saelvan, Ami, and the five girls were left behind.

"A real roller coaster," Ami whispered, looking at it with gleaming eyes. "I've always wanted to ride one."

"I... don't like them," Saelind muttered, wincing when Ami gasped, "b-but, today, I guess I can make an exception. Not like I'm doing it for you!"

When Ami gasped in delight and all of the girls squealed at her Tsundere-ness, Saelvan rolled his eyes and shook his head with a small smile.

To put it simply, when Saelind got on the ride, she was terrified.

When it started moving, her head was jerked back and her stomach flew up her throat: barely able to draw in a breath, the girl stared at the world like a frightened baby.

She was so scared that she couldn't even scream.

However, when they finally got off, Ami was laughing so hard that tears were streaming from her eyes.

"The _look_ on your _face!"_ the brunette squealed, bending over and clutching her stomach as she howled. "Oh. My. GOD! Saelind, it was priceless! Gaaaahahaaaa!"

"Not funny," the girl croaked, shakily trying to make her knees stop trembling. "At all."

"I beg to differ," Saelvan chuckled loudly, thrusting a photo in front of her eyes: it depicted Saelind with her head practically lodged between her shoulders, staring out at everything with that awful 'startled-baby' expression on her face. "This photo is going in the album!"

"BURN THAT HORRIBLE THING!" the girl squawked, lunging for the photo and trying to snatch it away. "HELL NO!"

When her brother smirked and pocketed the photo, Saelind instantly turned her back on him to retain the remains of her pride. They had just gone on the Terror House Roller Coaster: Saelind had been so terrified when they'd started flying around in circles through a dark tunnel that a horrifying photo had been born.

"It was priceless," Ami choked out, voice coming out insanely squeaky.

"Do you want cotton candy in your hair?" Saelind threatened, snatching a bright blue bag of spun candy off of a nearby vendor and waving it in her face. "I'll do it!"

"No way!" Ami squealed, quickly ducking away from her hand before darting toward the nearest ice cream booth. "Come on!"

Saelind sighed and paid for seven bags of cotton candy; then she handed them to the other girls and looked at all of them with an uncomfortable eye.

"Hey, can I ask you girls for... a favor?" she inquired, making all of them perk up. "Please?"

"Of course!" a girl named Mimi exclaimed, nodding. "What is it?!"

"Yes, please!" her friend added, clasping her hands together earnestly. "Tell us!"

"I... need a moment to talk with Ami-chan alone," she stated sadly, making all of them pause with startled expressions. "It's... something important. Could you have fun with my sister until I get back? Please?"

When she lowered her head and clenched her fists, eyes widened all around and giggles soon met her ears.

"Of course!" they chorused. "Go get her, Sael-kun!"

"Thanks," she murmured, giving her brother a weak smile before hurrying after Ami. "I appreciate it."

The brunette was currently looking at all of the stands with enthusiastic eyes.

When Saelind walked up to her and tapped her arm, she gasped and gestured at a nearby booth.

"Look, Sael-chan! Laughing Clowns!" she exclaimed, grabbing the girl's hand and dragging her towards the stall. Saelind watched as the girl grabbed the BB gun and hefted it awkwardly, aiming at rapidly moving clown; when she pulled the trigger and a BB hit the clown, it didn't fall back like it should have. In fact, the pellet actually ricocheted and smacked the girl on the head. Angrily grabbing the pellet, she threw it at the clown with her hand and hit it a second time: it fell backwards. "YAY! I did it!"

"Yep," Saelind snickered, watching as she pointed at a large panda bear. "You did."

'I'd like that one, please!" Ami gushed, looking at the man standing behind the counter.

"No way," he chuckled, giving her a smirk. "Sorry kid."

"Ehhh?" Ami whined, pouting at him. "Why not?"

When he merely shrugged and shook his head, the girl sighed and the two of them left together.

"That was a shame," Ami murmured, looking at the sky. "It was so cute, too."

Saelind didn't respond: her heart was thudding and her throat felt tight.

A bead of sweat ran down her cheek when the girl looked at her, and slowly but surely her heartbeat began to pick up from the anxiety.

It got to the point where the world started meshing together... she was so scared.

She didn't want to.

But she needed to.

And that's why she did it.

Stopping in her tracks and snatching Ami's hand, Saelind squeezed her wrist: her long hair drifted in the breeze when the taller girl turned to stare at her in surprise.

"Ami..." Saelind croaked, not lifting her head. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Eh?" the girl asked, smiling at her in an oblivious manner. "What do you mean?"

Saelind's heart sped up so quickly that to her, it felt almost as though it had stopped beating altogether.

Slowly lifting her head, the girl stared at her friend with a haunted expression, and it made the brunette's eyes twitch even though her smile never faltered for a moment.

"I'm sorry... for all the pain I caused you," the Russian girl stated quietly, making Ami jump and stare at her with a surprised expression. "I'm so sorry, Ami."

"W-what are you saying, Sael-chan?" Ami laughed, waving her hand with a small smile. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't cause me any pain, honest!"

"Don't you remember?" the girl demanded, looking at her with fierce eyes. "Don't you understand?!"

"Understand what?" Ami asked, refusing to stop smiling; her eyes softened a little and she touched the girl's cheek. "Come on, tell me what's wrong. We're friends, right?"

Saelind closed her eyes and swallowed, fighting her fear down.

They were friends.

"I'm the reason your mother died," Saelind stated softly, slowly opening her eyes; when Ami's expression changed, the Russian girl felt the world slowing down. Her friend's eyes had widened and gone blank, and she was now staring at the burns on Saelind's face in a sullen manner. "Ami... I'm sorry... I didn't know that Alexandria was your mother until the other day. I didn't make the connection... your mom, she was a hero. She... she... died trying to save my life."

The girl dropped her hand and stepped away from her, staring at Saelind's face with cold eyes.

"You're lying," she stated in an icy tone, shaking her head back and forth. "Stop it."

"It's not a lie," Saelind retorted frantically, clenching her fists and stepping forward. "It's the truth! Alexandria Kikiroshi was your mother, wasn't she?!"

When Saelind tried to touch her, the girl slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch me," Ami stated in a frigid manner, stepping forward with enraged brown eyes; Saelind flinched and backed up when she started advancing on her. "After all the crap I've already been putting up with... you actually have the audacity to tell me that my mother was a hero?!"

"Eh?" Saelind whispered, staring at the girl with a blank teal eye. "Ami... chan?"

"She wasn't a hero, she was a moron," the girl hissed, leaning down and glaring deep into Saelind's teal eye. "You really think I didn't know who you were?! Don't make me laugh... I knew the moment I heard your fucking _name_ that you were the one who killed my mother! God, you're the one who doesn't know anything... for someone so smart, you can be really stupid sometimes. If Tamaki hadn't asked me to become your friend, I wouldn't have ever gone _near_ someone like you. "

"W-what are you saying?" Saelind asked in a robotic tone; she didn't understand what was going on. "What do you mean by that?!"

"I mean, _Sael-chan, _I don't like you," Ami sarcastically enunciated, face contorting into a snide expression. "I never _did_ like you. Even back when we were little and your rich little mother dropped you off to get you away from the house, I hated your guts because my mother cared about you more than she did me and my brother. She taught you how to cook, she was always telling me to be nice to you, and she acted like you were a better daughter than I was even though you weren't even related to us. And guess what? That kind of shit is exactly what got her killed."

"That's not true!" Saelind cried, eyes widening when it hurt. "That's not true at all! Your mother loved everyone, Ami-chan! Everyone! Even if it had been somebody else trapped inside the building with her, she still would have done the same thing!"

"Maybe you're right," Ami stated simply, making the Russian girl's heart skip a beat; then, giving her the smile she always had, Ami let out a giggle. "But that doesn't change the fact that I still wish she'd have left you to burn. Oh, and by the way? I lied about your new look: those scars really _are_ disgusting."

With that, she walked away and headed back towards the park entrance.

Saelind, on the other hand, couldn't do anything but stand where she was: her eye had gone blank, her mind had gone numb, and her heart...

It was cracking.

Right down the middle.

When she slowly turned her head, her unfocused eye landed on Ami's retreating form.

And as she stood there, the world went silent in her ears.

There was no more laughter.

There were no more delighted screams from the people on the rides.

There was no more chatter from the crowds.

Everything was dead silent.

In that small moment of time, there was no sound.

That is, aside from a young girl's already fractured heart breaking into a million pieces and tinkling down into darkness like bits of broken glass.


	32. Chapter 31: Pieces of Me

**Chapter Thirty-One: Pieces of Me**

Grey... everything around her had turned dark and grey.

Saelind stood there in the center of the park, blank teal eye unresponsive to the world: her mouth was trembling, her eye was watering, and her face had turned so pale that her skin had almost become see-through. Taking in a deep breath, the girl tried to let out a howl... but only a watery croak slipped out of her mouth. People stopped walking and turned to stare when she tried again, simply because the same unpleasant sound escaped her lips.

However, after a moment, her expression became lifeless and her shoulders sagged.

The trembling in her mouth stopped... her watering eye slowly glazed over... and slowly but surely, all traces of emotion fled from her.

Slowly tilting her head back and staring at the sky with a vacant expression, the girl watched the clouds drift by without even bothering to pay attention to her surroundings. In that moment, she would have given anything just to be able to fly away like a bird... to escape from everything. Slowly lifting her hand, she reached for those clouds, feeling hollow from the inside out and simply waiting for the anger to fill up the emptiness Ami's words had created.

However, no anger came.

In fact, nothing did: there was nothing she could use as a shield this time.

She had no right to feel angry at Ami: she'd deserved every single horrible word that had been said to her.

This time, all she could do was let the weight of the pain crush some normal tears out of her.

Closing her eyes and letting her hand fall limply to her side, Saelind turned around and meandered off in a random direction. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care... at this point, she wanted someone to make her disappear. It was ironic, really... after all, the one thing she'd been all along was invisible. Now she'd have given anything to be able to sink into the shadows of some remote place and never come out again.

As she was wandering around, she accidentally bumped into a little boy who took one look at her face and screamed.

His mother instantly jerked him into her arms and backed away in horror, staring at Saelind's face with large eyes.

However, when Saelind lifted her head, she saw nothing but disbelieving shock and fear.

"What on earth?" the woman gasped, covering her son's eyes with and staring at the girl in horror; when Saelind tried to step around her, the woman flinched away from her for no real reason. "Get back! Stay away from my child, you _monster!"_

Saelind recoiled and stared at her, eyes blank.

_Monster?_ the pale girl wondered, heart breaking into even more pieces. _That's what people see me as when I walk by? A monster?_

"Oka-san, make it go away!" the child whimpered, burying his face in his mother's chest. "It tried to grab me!"

"You tried to touch my child with that diseased skin of yours?!" the woman screeched, backing away from the girl with outraged eyes. "Monster! Get away!"

Saelind's already pale face instantly screwed up and her teal eye filled with tears that she desperately tried to hide.

All of a sudden, she lowered her head and stared at the ground, fighting back the sting in her eye.

Nearby, a little girl wearing a bright pink dress tugged on a tall man's slacks.

_"See Daddy?_" she whispered, pointing straight at Saelind. _"I told you monsters were real!"_

_No..._ Saelind silently whispered, flinching at the word. _Please... not again... don't make it happen... not here, God... I'm begging you,_

However, she couldn't stop it.

The sting of tears welled up and the dam inside her burst for the first time in years; lifting her hands to her eyes, the tiny girl let out a single, squeaky hiccup, which made everyone around her twitch in wary surprise. Then she let out another... and another... weakly rubbing at her eyes and trying to fight it off all the while. However, she just couldn't keep it locked away anymore: weakly tilting her head back towards the sky, Saelind hiccuped one last time before she burst into tears.

When her legs buckled and she collapsed, crying almost hysterically, everyone immediately backed away.

The woman looked rather startled when the girl buried her scarred face in her hands and pressed her forehead against the ground.

Her shoulders heaved as she cried, but she no longer cared: everything was too much.

She couldn't take it anymore.

It was killing her.

More and more people who were having fun in the park stopped in order to see what was going on, and the commotion actually caught the attention of a certain brunette who was chatting with a trio of giggling girls. Feeling a bit curious, she discreetly detached herself from the group while they were talking about some of the trinkets in the park stalls before making her way through the crowd. However, her feet froze when her eyes landed on the source of the commotion.

Heart turning to ice, Haruhi Fujioka turned to marble and her good mood practically dissolved.

For several moments, she could do nothing but stare at the sight in front of her with a horrified expression on her face.

"S-Saelind... chan?" Haruhi whispered, eyes blank with shock; however, that's when her mind kicked in and she rushed forward, shoving several people aside in order to get there, including the woman who'd insulted her. "Saelind-chan, hey! What's wrong?! What happened?! Oh, no... Sael, please! Stop!"

However, when the brunette knelt down beside her and put a shivering hand on her shoulder, Saelind jumped and scrambled away from her.

"NO!" she wailed, shaking her head and sobbing hysterically. "DON'T TOUCH ME! EVER! I'M NOT A MONSTER! I'M NOT A MONSTER! YOU'RE ALL THE MONSTERS!"

With that horrible claim, the girl scrambled to her feet and blindly took off, still crying her eyes out.

"Saelind!" Haruhi cried, struggling to get past the crowd and thrusting her arm out. "WAIT!"

No… she was done waiting for Haruhi. She was done waiting for everyone, period. She was done waiting for someone to come rescue her... because, in reality, she had always been alone. Nobody was going to save her. Nobody was going to come and help her. Nobody would ever truly be there for her. There was no prince waiting to rescue her on a white horse... nobody would ever see her as anything more than a monster.

She was a creature that was vile in every form of the word for one reason alone.

Humans were defined by the way they looked.

And because of that, she was alone... and always would be... until the end of time.

Her reality was nothing more than a nightmare... a nightmare she couldn't escape from.

She was trapped in her own skin.

Saelind didn't know where to go. She was falling apart so badly that she couldn't even see right: bumping into people and running around in a blind frenzy, she tried to run from the pain that was attempting to crush her. She continued running in an aimless direction, hoping for someone... anyone...

But nobody was there.

She was surrounded by people, but nobody was really there.

She was completely alone.

When had this become such a familiar sensation?

When had the world become so painful?!

Why?

"Somebody," Saelind sobbed, stretching her arms out. "Anybody..."

Almost immediately, someone grabbed her wrists and she was held in place: her blurred eyes barely made out the person in front of her, but she knew who it was because of his scent. Face screwing up, Saelind threw herself into her brother's arms and buried her face in his shoulder, not even realizing that a vast majority of the Host Club was staring at them in horrified shock.

"L-Lindy, what happened?!" Saelvan stammered in Russian, yelping when the girl bit down on his shoulder to muffle her sobbing. "Lindy! That... ugh... what happened?!"

The girl merely shook her head with her eyes squeezed shut, still crying and streaming tears: all of the girls who'd requested her had tears in their own eyes and had various mixtures of fear and anxiety on their faces. None of them had ever truly seen someone cry as hard as Saelind was right then, especially a boy, so the fact that it was someone they had taken a liking to was doing a number on their heartstrings.

"Is Saelind all right?" Mori firmly demanded, moving forward with sharp steel-grey eyes. "He isn't hurt, is he?"

"No," Saelvan immediately replied, turning and giving the giant a cold look; his eyes were sharper than a blade for some reason. "Not physically. I'm going to take a walk with my... brother. Once he calms down, we'll come back, but right now... I don't think he'd want anyone to see him like this."

So saying, the boy-in-disguise literally swept his twin off her feet and carried her crying form away: however, the sight of him wiping the tears off her cheeks made all of the girls blush bright red, and despite the situation, some of them squealed. Albeit with several attempts to muffle the sounds. After the Heseroph twins were gone, Haruhi came jogging up with a frantic expression on her face.

"Did anyone see where Saelind went?!" she panted, looking around with frantic eyes. "Please! Did anyone see him?!"

"Vanny-chan just took him away, Haru-chan," Honey explained, looking up at everyone with large puppy eyes. "He was crying so hard... I wonder what happened?!"

Haruhi blinked when she heard a barely audible snort: head whipping to the side, her gaze landed on Ami, who seemed somewhat unfazed by the display she'd witnessed.

In fact, there was actually a barely noticeable smirk on her face.

"I wonder," the honor student muttered, large eyes turning fierce before she turned her gaze on a worried blonde boy. "Hey, Tamaki-senpai? Can I say something?"

"Why, of course you can, Haruhi," the Club Leader stated, giving her a confused blink. "Why would you think you couldn't?"

"Because what I'm about to say may come as a shock," the girl stated simply, walking up and jabbing him in the chest with a fierce scowl. "That's why."

"Go on," Kyouya urged, making everyone stare at her; however, the brunette's eyes remained locked on the blonde's before she glanced at Ami and scowled.

"I'm not certain yet," she stated grimly, shaking her head in disappointment, "but I have a very bad feeling that Saelind's breakdown might actually be your fault."

Before anyone could respond to that loaded statement, she stormed off in the direction the twins had gone.

Saelvan, on the other hand, was having a fairly tough time getting his sister to calm down: once she'd stopped crying so hard, she'd angrily let her hair down and parted it so it would hide her hideous deformities. The action had made her brother's eyes sadden in an almost fearful way, and since then, she hadn't let out a single sob. That didn't mean the tears had stopped streaming from her eye, however: liquid diamonds continued trickling down like a waterfall despite her blank expression.

Whirling around and looking for something that might help, Saelvan blinked at everything that might make things easier with hopeless eyes.

Then his eyes landed on the slowest, calmest ride in the park.

"Lindy..." he whispered, making her turn her puffy eye on him. "Let's go on the Ferris Wheel."

The Russian girl didn't respond when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to the ride.

Any normal person would have been thrilled to get on this ride, since the inside was so open. Unlike American Ferris Wheels, which didn't offer a very good view and were mostly for show, Japanese Ferris wheels were larger than normal and they were sometimes even used for scenic photography. The walls of each compartment were made of glass and held together by metal beams; the seats were left open on either side to give each rider the best possible view.

Because of this, Saelvan was sure it would do something to improve his sister's mood, even if it was only useful for getting her out of the crowd.

The boy hastily paid the man running the ride before ushering his sister onto the nearest booth, abruptly sitting down, and pulling her down beside him. The girl hiccuped a few times when the wheel's engineer flicked the lock to keep the doors shut, but by the time he put the ride in motion, the floodgates had completely stopped and Saelind looked exhausted. Saelvan watched as his sister rubbed her cheek with a shiver.

"I'm all right now," she sniffed, giving him a smile that didn't convince him one bit. "I promise."

"Don't lie to me," he whispered, clasping her cheeks with gentle hands and forcing her to look into his eyes. "Please... just tell me what happened."

For a moment, the girl's face contorted again, but then her expression went blank and she swallowed.

"Ami," she stated simply, giving a shrug when his face drained of color. "I was wrong."

Saelvan's face twisted up and he abruptly stood up, turning to face the windows with lowered eyes. After a moment, Saelind got up and stood beside him, looking out at the sky with a tightness in her throat. Her eye landed on a bird flying around not too far away, and she sighed as she watched it: she felt envious of the little creature, since it was free to go wherever it wanted without any pressure, or worries, or even any sadness to hold it back.

For a long time, the twins stood there together, one with his eyes lowered, the other with her eyes raised.

Both of them hurting for different reasons.

"Saelind," the boy finally murmured, not looking at her as he spoke. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," the girl stated, giving him a softer smile that made his face contort. "I'm all better now. I'm used to this, so I can just brush it off like always."

The boy's shadowed eyes darkened even further and he bit his lip: his fang cut his skin slightly, but he hardly noticed.

"Stop it," he whispered, moving over and pulling her into a hug. "Stop crying."

"I'm not crying anymore," Saelind deadpanned, ignoring his embrace and staring off at nothing. "Stop worrying so much. I'll be fine."

"No, Lindy! I know you better than I know myself!" the boy spat, jerking away and clutching her shoulders. "Stop crying!"

"Like I said," the girl droned, looking as though she were only mildly tired out, "I'm not crying,"

"Yes, you are," he whispered in a pained tone, eyes filling with tears. "Your voice doesn't crack... tears don't fall... but all the same, you're crying. And I hate it. Stop!"

"Saelvan, this isn't your fault," Saelind murmured, gripping his wrists with a weak expression. "Stop looking at me like that, okay?"

"Not until you stop crying," the boy stubbornly sniffed, rubbing his own eyes. "I won't leave you alone. You know that."

For a long moment, the girl merely closed her eyes, listening to the sound of her own heartbeat... then, opening them again, she turned and looked outside the window: the sun was slowly starting to make its way towards the horizon. Sunset. The end of another day.

"You know me a little too well, bro," Saelind finally whispered, eye filling with tears once again even as she grinned at him. "You know? I was actually happy to have her looking out for me... I thought that, maybe just once, things could change for me. But it doesn't work that way. I knew that everybody around me ends up unhappy in some way or another because of who I am, but I ignored it... I pretended not to remember and blindly accepted the first hand that was held out to me."

Letting out a quiet laugh, the girl shook her head even as she broke down again.

Her brother was crying as well, and he looked so upset that it was kind of funny... but in a way, it was just that much more depressing.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered, stepping forward and hugging her. "I didn't think this would happen, Lindy... I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," the girl muttered, shaking her head. "I swore not to get involved with anybody ever again, and I did. This is what I get for trusting her."

After that, they sat down and fell back into an uncomfortable silence.

However, after about ten minutes of sitting on the Ferris Wheel, Saelvan finally looked out the window and sighed.

"You haven't cried like that in a long time," he murmured, making the girl wince. "Sometimes... I wish that I had been the one who'd gotten trapped inside the building."

"Don't be stupid," the girl snorted, giving her brother a soft expression. "It'd have been the same either way."

"Either way?" he asked, looking at her in curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"If you were the one who'd been burned and scarred up, I'd be in your place, suffering just like you are right now," Saelind stated simply, tilting her head back and ignoring her brother's stunned expression. "That's why I'm fine with it being like this... either way, both of us would have ended up suffering in the end."

Expression breaking, the boy slowly buried his face in his sister's shoulder and held onto her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, sniffing to hide the fact that he was crying. "Saelind, I'm glad you're my sister. I love you so much."

"I love you, too," the girl replied, standing up and walking over to the window. "Hey... look over there. Do you see it?"

"See what?" Saelvan asked, wiping his nose before joining her. "Where are you looking?"

"Ouran Academy," the girl explained, staring out across the city with a solemn eye. "Kyoto is a pretty big city, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Saelvan chuckled, frowning when he spotted the bird from earlier sailing straight at them. "Whoa... look at that bird! It's flying so close!"

However, there was no need: the moment after he said it, the bird he was talking about smashed headfirst into the window and cracked it. Vanny's eyes flew open wide when a splatter of blood flew across the glass, but Saelind was so startled by it that she shrieked and stumbled backwards against the opposite side of the cart, And that's exactly where things took a dangerous turn: the moment she fell against it, the lock holding the door in place broke off its hinges and the girl went flying out of the Ferris Wheel.

"Huh?!" Saelind whispered, eyes widening as the world tilted and the sky spun. "No waaaaAAAAAYYYYYY! KYAAAAAA!"

"SAELIND!" Vanny screeched, lunging forward and snatching her ankle with one hand; several people down below screamed in horror and pointed up at them when the twins started screaming in terror. "OH, MY GOD! J-JUST HOLD ON! DON'T PANIC! I'LL PULL YOU UP!"

"VANNY!" Saelind wailed, flailing her arms in hysteria. "H-HELP!"

"STOP WRIGGLING, YOU IDIOT!" the boy bawled, yelping when his arm popped. "OW! LINDY, STOP FLAILING! YOU'LL BREAK MY GRIP ON YOUR ANKLE!"

Taking a deep breath, the girl ignored the blood rushing to her head and made her body stiff as a board: tensing her muscles and making herself as rigid as possible, the girl kept as still as possible to help her brother keep her alive. Still, she couldn't help but wonder how she got herself into these kinds of messes: what she wasn't expecting, however, was for her twin's grip to slip when the Ferris Wheel was only halfway down to the ground.

Nor was she expecting a dark blur to come roaring out of the crowd as fast as it did: before anyone could even blink, Takeshi Morinozuka leapt into the air and snagged the girl mid-fall, but it wasn't exactly in a 'prince-who-rescues-the-princess' fashion. Nope, instead of being caught bridal style, she was caught in the position she'd fallen, which had put her face directly in the center of his crotch. When he landed, the girl was being held upside down, not knowing what to do.

Personally, she didn't even want to breathe, since this was so far beyond out of her comfort zone that she could have fainted.

Regardless, being caught in any fashion was definitely better than breaking her neck on the ground would have been. After being turned upright, the boy set her down on her feet and ignored the flush on her face: however, everyone around them frantically cheered, and the moment he was able to, Saelvan jumped off the ride and threw his arms around her shoulders. The scare had temporarily broken off her depression, at least... it was something different to focus on, and that alone might have been a blessing in disguise.

"I thought you were gonna die!" he cried, shaking her back and forth. "Thank God you're all right... you scared the bajeezus out of me!"

"Sorry," Saelind croaked, clutching her chest. "Scared myself for a bit there."

"Are you hurt?" Mori demanded, looking down at her with that annoyingly stoic expression.

"Only my pride," the girl grumbled, waving his concern off before she halted. "Thank you, though... you probably just saved my life."

"Anytime," he murmured, giving her a rare smile. "Haruhi is looking for you."

With that, he vanished back into the crowd towards Honey, who was waving his arms in an attempt to get free of the crowd Saelvan watched him depart before taking note of his twin's flushed cheeks; wriggling his eyebrows, he gently nudged her and chuckled when she glanced at him in confusion.

They stared at each other for a long moment, neither one saying a single word.

"Hubba hubba," the boy finally sniggered, making the girl roll her eyes. "You just got a crotch to the face."

"Yup," the girl confirmed, shuddering slightly. "Now let's never speak of it again, shall we?"

"As you wish," the boy cackled, glad to be off the topic of her depression, "but don't even try denying that a part of you liked it."

"Shut up, you perv," the girl squealed, covering her ears when he laughed. "Not listening! Lalalala!"

When Haruhi finally spotted them, her eyes softened with relief since Saelind had obviously calmed down quite a bit. However, she could tell that the girl wasn't back to normal. Simply because, for some weird reason, her large teal eye seemed to be crying without ever really shedding any tears. That alone was the one thing that told the brunette that her friend wasn't back to normal. And sadly, she had a feeling that until she figured out what had caused this change, nothing ever would.

That much, she was almost certain of.

* * *

**Author's Note:**This is the last chapter until next week. Expect a new one or multiple new ones (depending on how busy I am) between Tuesday to Friday. Once again, there will be no ending anytime soon: this project is literally only just beginning. Still,** i**t makes me very, very happy to know that everyone is hearing Saelind's story, but I want you all to understand something before you old readers and new readers continue reading. I want you to know, personally, that aside from the involvement of the Host Club and all other anime scenarios... nearly all of the stuff you've read really happened. Give or take the people, situations, and roles that were switched around to fit the setting of Fandom. Some very real people were removed from the true history I'm reiterating, and I replaced them with the Host Club members.

If I'm going to be honest, my role in all this was actually quite an unpleasant one: in real life, I was Haruhi... and a girl named Tiffany Walt was Ami. The only difference between this tale and the real events is that Haruhi (**in short, me**) simply wants to become close friends with Saelind: my feelings for her go waaaay deeper.

And Saelind? Every time Vanny ever told you that you were beautiful the way you are, he was right.

Please, never cry again like you did that day at the carnival. It almost tore my heart out.

Just sayin...

Anyway, thanks for reading, and look forward to the next update.


	33. Chapter 32: Shadow

**Chapter Thirty-Two: Shadow**

In retrospect, things always made more sense to Saelvan than they did when certain events were actually taking place. For the most part, one thing seemed to follow another, and that's exactly why his sister had become the kind of girl she was. A girl who couldn't do anything aside from shutting people out. The fact of the matter was simple: when it came to the feelings of others, she was naive.

Before the fire, she had been so easily led on that it was almost pathetic how quickly people had taken advantage of her.

She had always been a lonely girl, even back before the accident... in the end, all she'd wanted was to be seen by her family. She'd wanted to be loved like he was. Sadly, since Saelvan had known from the start that her dream would never come true, he'd settled for giving her the next best thing. He had become her first and only true friend: it was through that event that the two of them formed the bond that all twins, fraternal or not, are supposed to have from birth.

However, in the long-run, it wasn't enough... because the person Saelind loved the most was their mother, the Grand Duchess.

The acceptance she wanted to have the most was never going to come.

And yet, despite all of the painful odds that had been stacked against her, Saelind had actually been a very bubbly and optimistic little girl up until the incident concerning Alexandria's death. As weird as that would have sounded to anyone who knew her presently, it was the honest to God truth: back before everything in her world had collapsed, Saelind had been a somewhat bookish girl, but her sarcastic sense of humor and her trademark old-lady cackle had somehow been able to turn tense situations into easy-going ones.

Not to mention, her smile had been so beautiful back then that she used to light whatever room she happened to be in.

Saelind had once been a fairly ordinary girl... but with that single expression, her smile, she had somehow been able to transform.

For a few choice moments, she became more than just beautiful.

However, before the fire opened her eyes to the true natures of those around her, she had been an open book.

A book that was very easy to read, too, since you could tell just from looking at her eyes that all she really wanted was to be seen by someone... anyone, it didn't matter who. Then that dark turn had come... Saelvan hated that part the most. After she was scarred, everyone who'd led her into believing they truly cared about her had turned their backs.

However, there was one person in particular had hurt her so badly that Saelvan had been angered enough to pick a fight.

It was because of him alone that she had promised herself to never get close to anyone again.

He, along with all of her 'friends,' had left her alone.

And until she'd met the Host Club, she'd stayed alone: she'd never once felt the desire to trust someone she didn't know.

However, slowly but surely, Ami Kikiroshi had wormed her way beneath the walls that Saelind had raised.

For a while, she'd tried to forget that people were untrustworthy.

For a while, she'd let go of herself to feel close to someone else for a change.

For a while, the everlasting loneliness had receded.

And for the first time in years, his little sister had almost begun to feel happy with her life. After all, someone had accepted her, scars and all: even the secrets about her past hadn't phased Ami's appeal for friendship. Whenever Ami had been standing beside his twin, there had been no fear of being betrayed behind her eyes... in fact, he knew deep down that it had never once crossed her mind that Ami might be leading her along. If she'd had even a bit of suspicion or doubt, he wouldn't have been able to catch the faint traces of her old self rising up to the surface now and then.

The self with so much boundless optimism that she could do anything she put her mind to.

The self that Saelvan thought had been shattered into pieces after his sister had been scarred up.

The broken self that had been erased after their own mother had told Saelind, to her face, that her birth had been a mistake.

Happiness for his twin was fleeting: happiness just wasn't an emotion that was meant to be lasting for her.

After all, her existence was being buried in a shadow... a shadow that never should have been cast.

In short?

His sister was living in his shadow.

Second best.

Over the years, their mother had made it very clear that Saelind was just a reflection of Saelvan: she was the Extra, the look-alike that represented all of her beautiful boy's negative aspects. But the guilt of knowing his sister's suffering had virtually been his fault from the start had practically smothered him over the years. And now, after all the suffering he'd already caused her, his twin sister had lost her only friend because of the stupid advice he'd given her.

All of these feelings plagued him as he sat on the bench, staring out at everything with blank teal eyes.

After the events concerning the Ferris Wheel, his sister had been dragged off by the girls from the Host Club since they all wanted to know what had happened. Saelvan simply didn't have the heart or the energy to do much of anything, so while everyone was off having fun and recuperating from the almost-accident, the boy had taken a break.

The world around him blurred and sounds meshed together as he thought.

And thought.

And thought.

He wanted to do something for her.

Anything.

But he couldn't think of a single way to cheer her up, and it was killing him. He didn't even notice it when Haruhi finally approached him: she had been watching him for a while. The brunette sighed as she sat down on the bench in a sprawl: her stomach felt raw and upset after seeing Saelind crying like that. She didn't know what had taken place between her and Ami, but it bothered her. After a moment of running a hand through her hair, the girl turned her head and looked Saelvan, who looked for all the world like a beautiful teenage girl. Haruhi felt her eyebrow twitch, since she wouldn't have known he was a boy if she hadn't been told.

"Are you okay?" the Asian girl finally inquired, getting straight to the point. "Your face is really grey, you know..."

"Haru-kun?" Saelvan slowly asked, turning his head and looking through her. "Can I trust you enough to talk about something?"

"Um, yes?" Haruhi questioned with a blink, giving him a curious look "What's wrong?"

"Well, it's nothing… big," Saelvan stated, shivering slightly: he was lying... it was totally big. "You can keep doing whatever."

"If you start crying, warn me so I can get some ice cream," Haruhi stated dryly. "I think we could _both_ use some after what happened earlier."

"I'd be happy to," Saelvan murmured, then paused as he wondered how to say it. "It's just... being at a theme park like this brought back some unpleasant memories. Honestly, the fact that Saelind agreed to come here kind of came as a shock."

"Eh?" Haruhi asked, staring at him in total confusion. "How come?"

"Well, something happened to her at a theme park in the past, and it was really, really bad," Saelvan explained, turning his head and giving her a tired expression. "Despite appearances, there's no way she's over it. I _know_ she's not over it... I don't think she ever will get over it. I don't worry about her as much as I should because of how tough she is, but it's going to splash over into any type of relationship that she could ever have in the future. Romantic... or otherwise."

Haruhi slowly turned to face him and clasped his right hand with both of hers.

"This thing that happened," she said slowly, brown eyes pensive. "How bad?"

"There are no words to describe what she went through," Saelvan answered, teal eyes dead serious. "It's the main reason why she's so bad with people, Haru-kun. She doesn't get close to anyone because of it, and she doesn't even realize that she's trying to avoid a lot social contact now because of how scarring it was for her. I've known her since we were babies... and even _after_ she was burned, she wasn't like this: she had a lot of good friends… but now, she's close to maybe one person she's not actually related to."

"I've noticed that she doesn't like socializing," Haruhi admitted, giving a slow nod. "Still, what exactly happened...? Was it bad?"

"It was… so far beyond bad that it makes my stomach curl," Saelvan stated quietly, making the brown-eyed girl stare up in blatant surprise. "I saw the look on her face, but… I couldn't really do anything: even today, I still can't forget the look in her eyes. It's like her expression was burned into my memory."

"Tell me," Haruhi commanded, squeezing his hand. "Please."

"To put it simply... well, Saelind actually had a boyfriend at one point... but he was just like Ami Kikiroshi," the boy stated simply, wincing when the girl turned pale and let out a quiet gasp. "Like Ami, he made her think he would always be there despite her scars and got close to her... but do you know why? Apparently, he thought that if he up and married her, at some point he would actually be able to get his hands on the wealth our family has. And the day after he realized it would never happen, he broke up with her."

Haruhi's eyes widened and her heart knotted itself in horrified revulsion.

"Are you serious?" she choked, horrified by what she'd just heard. "Did that jerk really do something that awful to her?"

"Yeah," Saelvan confirmed, looking up at the sky, "and just I did yesterday, back then, I gave her some advice... I told her look her boyfriend straight in the eyes and to tell him how she really felt in the most blunt way she could possibly think of. And like today, it backfired so horribly that it reduced her to tears. It's the second time I've seen her cry in an amusement park. It's kind of ironic... the one place that's supposed to let people have nothing but sheer fun is actually the same place my sister is always found crying."

"Saelvan, please," Haruhi hesitantly inquired, looking as though she didn't want to know. "What exactly when on between them?"

"Well, I didn't hear a lot of it," the boy murmured, eyes empty of all happiness, "and by the time I could hear, everything was so quiet that you could have heard every word he'd said from half a mile away. After Lindy told him she loved him, Dmitri laughed... he said he was ashamed to be seen walking around with someone who belonged in a circus... then he called her a monster."

"No way," Haruhi whined, feeling more awful by the second. "That's horrible..."

"Oh, and by the way?" Saelvan quietly added, closing his eyes to hide his tears, "they were in the middle of a date at the most famous amusement park in Moscow when this happened, so everyone around them heard what he said. It was all over the news for weeks: I remember that it suddenly went quiet, but when I looked up at Lindy…"

Haruhi blinked when the boy abruptly trailed off and pressed his full lips together.

"Go on," the girl encouraged softly.

"Haruhi... she was crying for the first, and last, time I've seen until now," Saelvan mumbled, looking up at her with a pained expression in his eyes. "Dmitri broke her heart in front of more than a hundred people, then simply left her standing there. Everyone… looked kinda shocked, and I remember hearing people whispering things like 'that boy is so terrible' and 'how could he say such awful things', but then they started to notice that my sister had burn scars all over her face... and they began to mirror his words. They all turned on her. I still can't forget how she locked up and lowered her head… I mean, she actually covered her eyes to hide the fact that she was crying before she bolted."

"Well, yeah," Haruhi sighed, rubbing her eyes with a weary expression. "I mean, losing someone you love is never easy... but having them betray you could probably crush even the strongest people beyond repair."

"Dmitri did both at the same time, in a public place," Saelvan pointed out, "and as sad as it is, you're actually correct: it completely destroyed my sister in a way that changed her personality in a very negative way. I'll admit it: she actually turned into a heartless bitch after that boy broke her. She became so antisocial that for the most part, she never even spoke to me. I thought maybe she was happier here, but I was wrong... after all, this is the second time I've seen her break down at an amusement park."

"Oh, my God..." Haruhi croaked, covering her face in horror as she realized something. "Wait... back up: you said that Ami Kikiroshi was similar to this Dmitri-san you were talking about... so, are you saying that Ami-san is the cause of Saelind's breakdown?"

"Most likely," he sighed,, shaking his head before his eyes softened and he looked upon her kindly. "She's hurting, Fujioka-san. I only told you this because I have a feeling that you know her just as well as I do. You might be the only person who has even a remote shot at keeping her from going back into her shell. Even though you're friend-material, though, at this point... I think it might already be too late. She probably won't let you get close to her after what happened."

"I have a weird way of warming people's hearts," Haruhi stated in a firm tone, getting to her feet and dusting off her slacks. "I'll just have to put that talent to use, that's all. She may not like it, but Saelind can't stop me from caring about her: the only thing she really needs right now is the knowledge that MY feelings are genuine."

With that, she gave him a smile and wandered away: Saelind was on her way back, so there was no point in continuing. Not long after that, the Heseroph twins left the amusement park. Sadly, it was earlier than anticipated, but after giving Kyouya a heads up, they departed and made their way back home on foot. Nobody really disputed the matter of them leaving, either, since Saelind was out of it after everything that had happened to her.

Even the naive club leader had been able to see that the girl wasn't herself, and for once, he came to the conclusion that some space might actually be a good thing. When the twins left, however, Haruhi turned to look at Ami: the brunette was watching Saelind go with her hand over her mouth, looking as though she were genuinely worried about everything going on around her.

The smaller brunette wasn't buying the fake concern.

If she was going to be honest, she was seriously tired of watching Ami act like an innocent little girl.

Unfortunately, Haruhi Fujioka was generally a very calm and collected person: instead of making a scene like a normal girl would have, she decided to wait. It was hard, but she fervently told herself it would be better to wait until she had evidence that Ami Kikiroshi had caused her friend's breakdown.

Even if Saelind didn't understand how much she cared, nothing would change the fact that she did.

All she really had to do was figure out a way to get those feelings out into the open.

However, when the answer hit her, she felt like a woman having an epiphany.

"The switcher party," she whispered, eyes lighting up from the inside out. "If I ask... maybe..."

With a plan already forming inside her mind, the brunette whirled around and sped towards the Hitachiin twins and Kyouya.

After all, she would need their help to get this plan to work right.


	34. Chapter 33: A Litany and a Fight

**Chapter Thirty-three: A Litany and a Fight**

After they finally returned home, the apartment was quiet.

During the entire walk back, Saelind's visible eye had remained glazed over with a sheen that her brother didn't like at all.

The ice he was used to seeing had cracked and melted... now there was nothing but tears.

After opening the door and walking inside, Saelind literally walked into to the bedroom and slid to the ground with her back against the wall.

Saelvan followed her with hollow eyes, watching as she stared off at nothing.

He would have given anything to get through to her... but he could tell just by looking at his sister that she wanted to be alone. So, after tying his hair back and shrugging on some jeans and Saelind's favorite green sweatshirt, he pulled a saucepan down out of the kitchen cupboard and started making her favorite dish. It was small and stupid, but it was the only thing he could think of doing to even remotely let her know that he was there. Aside from this, there really wasn't anything he could do.

For nearly an hour and a half, he slaved away over the cookstove: sauteing the vegetables and mixing the necessary ingredients together.

When the meal was finally done, he turned the stove off and let his hair down again.

Then, almost apprehensively, he walked over to the room his sister was moping in. He was just about to step inside and let her know that he'd made dinner when he heard something that made him halt in his tracks. Slowly, his teal eyes went blank and his knees started shaking: he hadn't heard this in a very long time... so long, in fact, that he'd forgotten what it sounded like. However, as long as it had been, he would know this this soft, beautiful voice anywhere.

His sister was singing.

Saelind was singing... slowly pressing has back against the wall, the boy slid down and tilted his head back to listen.

_"This is the room where she lied... and she lied... so well,_" the voice weakly trilled. "_This is the room where she tried... to bring my walls down... until they all fell._ _She had the kindest smile... she had the kindest smile..._"

Saelind's throat locked up and his stomach knotted: tears instantly filled his eyes and his lungs tightened to the point where he could barely breathe. After years of not letting a single note escape her lips, this was the only song she could sing?

It was killing him.

"_I see it now I was wrong... this pain was mine all along. You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone..._ " Saelind sang softly, lilting tone weaving out into the empty apartment like a velvety breath of wind. "_I want so much to call, but they deserve so much more, than a girl who can't even say she's not strong. Am I wrong...? Yes, I'm __wrong._"

Tears started streaming down the boy's face and his face screwed up: his shoulders quivered when he heard the next few lyrics.

"_I am poison, I am lies... I am the devil in disguise! Run as fast as you can!_" she trilled, making her brother twitch. "_I'm the un-savable soul... I should always be alone! Run as fast as you can! I'm a monster, not a man... I'm a monster man..._"

That's what did it.

It tore his heart right out and he couldn't stop himself from countering her lyrics with a few of his own.

"_This isn't the home where we lived: where you learned to take, and never to give._" Saelvan sang, voice weaving into the air and silencing his sister's song. "_This isn't the street we would walk... whatever you did, my hand in yours. You have the kindest heart... you have the kindest heart. I see you now, in the dark... burdened by the pain in your heart: pain that will never depart. I have so many fears. but the biggest is the sight of your tears: I can't stand to see them fall... please, just stop... please, just stop..._"

"_But this is the price that I've paid... to call myself brave... saving face,_" Saelind countered, voice weaving out of the room. "_Only question worth my tears... if my friends were still here, would I be such a disgrace?_"

"_You have the kindest heart,_" Saelvan countered, crying even as he sang some counter lyrics. "_You have the kindest heart..._"

"_Then take it and make it start,_" the girl choked, giving up the singing and making the boy freeze. "_Fix the pieces that fell apart!_"

In that moment, for Saelvan, there was no sound other than his sister's demand. The boy merely sat there for several minutes, rubbing his watering eyes with both hands until the tears stopped. Then, swallowing his anger and frustration, the boy stood up and stomped inside Saelind's room: when she looked up at him, he saw tears on her right cheek.

However, when he knelt down in front of her, for a long moment, nothing happened.

Then, the boy grabbed her shoulders and jerked her into his arms.

"I can't fix your heart," Saelvan stated weakly, hugging his sister tightly when she twitched. "I can't put it back together. All I've ever been able to do was watch while everyone hurt you. Over the years, I've done nothing but watch you suffer, and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of always being the one who's safe and protected! I don't want you as a shield... I want you as my sister! it's not fair, Saelind... it's not fair to you."

"Vanny, life in general isn't supposed to be fair for me," Saelind chuckled, making him pull away and stare at her face; when he saw the look in her eyes, his heart clenched and he wanted to burst into tears again. She had the same smile on her face... the same one he'd seen only once before. "I was an accident, remember? It's not your fault... if anything, it's mine."

"What are you saying?!" the boy squeaked, shaking her back and forth. "How could any of this possibly be your fault?!"

"Simple: I exist," she stated softly, making her brother's face turn bone white. "Like Mom said, everyone could have been happier if I'd never been born. My birth was a mistake."

Something in his eyes went out like a busted light when she said it.

After a moment, Saelvan let her go and pulled back, staring at the floor.

"For what it's worth," he stated simply, turning and looking at the moon through the bathroom window. "I've never thought you were a mistake. In fact, your birth was pretty much the only thing our mother ever did right."

Saelind's face twitched and screwed up, but she closed her eyes and fought it back down: then, without saying anything else, the girl stood up with her her eyes lowered and headed right past him, long hair swirling behind her. After eating the food Saelvan had prepared for them, the twins returned to the room and lay down on the floor with their heads pressed together.

Saelvan fell asleep the moment their foreheads made contact.

He'd been bone tired after all of the trauma they'd been through that day, but even though Saelind was just as tired, she couldn't close her eyes. All she could really do was stare at her twin's face: even though she had always held her tears back, pretending that they weren't real... she had finally come to the conclusion that shedding them did nothing to relieve the pain inside her. Tears in general were meaningless. They couldn't change anything. They couldn't fix her problems.

Shed or unshed, in the end, she was always crying alone.

"I can't do this anymore," Saelind stated weakly, teal eye glazing over and becoming lifeless. "I'm so tired of everything."

This was the truth.

She was tired.

The weight of that exhaustion tightened around her heart, soothing the cracks and filling them up with nothing but pure hate.

And as she lay there, side by side with her brother, a flickering, dying light inside inside those fractured pieces finally went out.

Throughout the night, Saelind merely stared off into space: she didn't feel anything.

She didn't care about anything.

And she sure as hell didn't have any more motivation to move forward.

Like always, though, nothing went the way she wanted... and by the time six in the morning rolled around, the girl was forced into getting dressed by her brother once he woke up. The walk to Ouran was no different that day than the ones that had come before it, but along the way, Saelvan had noticed the change in his sister's expression.

And it scared him.

Unlike the bitter and sullen face he was used to seeing, now all he saw was a frightening empty expression.

Even worse was her eye: it had no sheen whatsoever and kind of resembled a porcelain doll's.

Unfeeling.

On top of that, she ignored everyone who tried to talk to her in the halls and merely moved past them. Saelvan ended up hurrying off to his own classes before he could talk to his twin about her mood, since the clock tower bell had started chiming, but it wasn't like it mattered anyway. The girl no longer cared about anything.

However, the moment she entered her classroom, Haruhi saw the look on her face.

And it made her stare, worry written across her features.

After Saelind took her seat, she turned and almost robotically stared out the window: classes came and went, but she never moved even once... and when the lunch bell rang, she didn't even blink. She merely continued staring at the sky like she had when she'd first arrived at Ouran. The twins had long since been whispering about her odd behavior, so they used the lunch break as an opportunity to approach her.

"Hey, Saelind-san," Hikaru called, stepping forward and leaning across the desk. "Are you all right?"

"You seem a bit out of it," Kaoru hesitantly added, blinking when the girl turned her empty gaze on him. "We were kind of worried."

The girl merely stared at them blankly before turning her head and staring out the window once again. Every host club attendee in the room gasped at the blatant display of the twins being ignored, but when the redheads started whispering to each other, a familiar voice split the air before anything else could happen.

Sadly, Haruhi was the only one who noticed how badly Saelind twitched at the sound of it.

"Excuse me," Ami stated sweetly, making everyone turn; Haruhi's large brown eyes narrowed in a flash of suspicion when she saw Saelind shiver for a moment, but aside from that, there was no change in her expression. "Um... is Saelind Heseroph here?"

"Oh, Kikiroshi-san!" Hikaru murmured, eyes widening in relief. "Yeah, actually: he's right over here."

"Ehhh?" the girl asked, peering around him with an innocent expression. "Oh, there you are! Saelind, I needed to talk to you!'

"Is that so?" the dark-haired girl inquired, turning her head and giving her a blank look.

"Yeah," Ami giggled, pressing a small hand against her lips with a blush. "Could you come with me? It's about yesterday... so, um..."

"Fine," Saelind stated quietly, getting up and robotically walking past her. "Come on."

Unbeknownst to the two girls, Haruhi got up not long after that and followed them out the door. When the two girls walked to the roof, for several minutes, nothing was heard since both Ami and Saelind were alone: the brunette glanced at the Russian girl's shaking hands, then took note of her slightly trembling mouth. Despite her lack of expression, she could see it was being forced.

"Heseroph-san," Ami murmured, leaning forward and waving a hand in front of the pale girl's eyes; Saelind merely looked through it, making the beautiful brunette's lip curl a little in disdain. "Seriously, quit moping... it's not like you just got dumped."

"Excuse me?" Saelind inquired, staring at her with a flash of anger. "You have no right to say that to me. Getting dumped would have been more preferable over what you did to me."

"Come off it," Ami snapped, looking extremely irritated. "This isn't elementary school: friends come and go, so it's not a big deal. Let's just leave it like that, okay? Whenever we're around the Host Club, we'll pretend we're still the best of buddies, but outside of it... I'm going to act like I don't know you anymore, and you can do the same for me."

"Why…?" Saelind demanded, cold teal eye piercing into her brown ones. "Why should I bother pretending?"

"Because you're the monster who murdered my mother," the girl stated simply, looking at her nails when the girl flinched. "Look, just so we're clear, I never really liked you. From here on out, you can go back to being the social outcast and I can get on with my life outside of the Host Club. I'll be a lot happier without having act like a goody goody all the time, alright?"

"I didn't murder anyone," Saelind stated coldly, giving Ami such a dangerous stare that she blinked, "and I am not a monster."

"Who are you kidding?" the girl snapped, folding her arms with an angry expression. "You sure as hell look like one to me."

Haruhi, who was just about to walk around the corner, halted in her tracks.

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, the brunette pressed herself against the wall and listened with a frown on her face.

"I'm not a monster," Saelind growled, lowering her head with clenched fists. "Stop calling me that."

"Why should I?!" Ami snorted, mouth contorting like a snake's. "It's your fault I'm stuck in this nightmare! This is all your fault! If you had never transferred into Ouran Academy, my life could have gone on without too many problems, but no! You just had to come here and make me remember all of the things that took years to forget. You're a monster, Saelind!"

That was it: before Ami could react, Saelind let out a savage snarl and tackled her to the ground.

"Monster?!" Saelind spat, gripping her wrists and pinning her down. "You want to see a monster?! I'll fucking show you one!"

When the girl fiercely scooted up and kept her arms immobile using her knees, the brunette screamed and struggled to get away.

However, Saelind exerted pressure on her nerves and prevented her from moving.

Before her former friend could react, the Russian pulled a compact mirror out of her pocket, flipped it open, and thrust it into the girl's face. Ami blinked at it like a startled hen, not seeming to comprehend what she was looking at: however, when Saelind gripped her chin and held it, her eyes were dark.

"What the hell is this?!" Ami snapped, angrily wriggling around. "Get the fuck off of me, you creep!"

"No," Saelind growled, exerting more pressure on her arms until she yelped. "Take a good look in the mirror."

"Why the hell should I?!" the Asian girl shrieked. "What's the point?!"

"I said I'd show you a monster, didn't I?!" Saelind hissed, bringing her face close to Ami's and glaring daggers into her eyes. "Take a look in the mirror and you'll see one. The only monster here is you. I don't know how you can smile at people like you care for them while lying to their faces. You did it so easily that I didn't see it coming. However, if you think I'm going to pretend to be your friend just because your mother died saving my life, you're insane. That was her choice, not yours: you have no power over me."

"Get off me, you filthy MONSTER!" the girl screeched, trying to buck the girl off of her. "GET OFF!"

"NO!" Saelind shrieked back, pulling Ami's shoulders up and slamming her back down; she was instantly winded. "Monster or not, I TRUSTED you! I TRUSTED YOU, YOU BITCH!"

"Shut up!" Ami screeched, glaring at her. "You don't even know anything about me!"

"AND WHO'S FAULT IS THAT?!" Saelind spat, growling like a wild dog; when Ami froze, Saelind got up. "You're right, Kikiroshi-san: I don't know anything about you. And the only person you can blame that on is yourself, because the whole time I thought you were my friend, you did nothing but lie to me."

"You'll gain no sympathy from me," the girl screeched, pointing a shaking finger in her direction. "I told you! This is your fault!"

"Regardless," Saelind stated in a deadened voice, slowly turning and looking at her with a shattered expression; her eyes were once again dead of all feeling, but her smile was wide and sharp, "goodbye, Ami... you should go study for your exams. Hopefully, you won't fail and get stuck with remedial classes."

"Whatever, freak," the girl muttered, bolting to her feet. "Not like I wanted to be here anyway."

With that, she darted around the girl's shaking form and tore right past Haruhi, who's hair drifted off to the side as she flashed by.

The cross-dresser's large brown eyes were wide with horror and she couldn't even comprehend what she'd just heard.

When a dull thumping sound met her ears, however, her mind kicked in; dropping her bags and losing one of her dress shoes in the process, the girl shakily hurried around the corner to find that Saelind had collapsed to her knees and was staring at the rooftop with no expression at all. And yet, even though no tears were streaming down her face, the girl recognized the raw pain hidden behind the mask that had been put in place. Haruhi opened her mouth to say something, anything at all... but nothing came out.

She merely stood there and watched as the girl stared at the floor.

When the bell rang, neither one of them moved: even though they would definitely get in trouble later, they didn't go back to class.

For several hours, the two of them remained where they were, locked in those same positions.

The sun slid across the sky and clouds floated past, but by the time the last bell rang, neither of them had moved. The club activities were going to be starting soon... they needed to go. But they couldn't. Eventuallty, Hkaru and Kaoru found them, but when Haruhi warned them off with nothing but a sharp glare, they scuttled off the rooftop and left her alone.

Saelind's expression never changed even once as the hours stretched out longer, drawing the sky from day to night.

The girl never moved... never spoke... never looked anywhere else.

She merely sat there: the only proof that she was even alive surfaced through her breathing.

Haruhi had long-since sat down against the wall to keep an eye on the girl, but... sadly, there was no change.

Eventually... the Asian girl felt her eyes growing heavy, and she had trouble staying awake.

Somehow, without her even realizing it, she opened her eyes again and all of a sudden it was morning: sunlight was streaming onto the school rooftop, but her heart turned cold when she looked up and saw Saelind sitting in the same spot. Instantly getting to her feet, the brunette grabbed the girl by the arm and hauled her up, then forcibly dragged her towards the stairs. Saelind didn't respond at all when she was taken off Ouran's grounds and brought back to her apartment.

"You need a break," Haruhi whispered, biting her lip. "Look, Saelind, I know about what happened between you and Ami. I also knew her feelings for you weren't real... but despite everything my gut was screaming at me to do, I held myself back because I didn't want you to get hurt."

"You knew?" she asked in a blank tone, staring right through her. "Figures. I'm not surprised."

"Saelind..." Haruhi grumbled, frustration level rising through the roof. "Augh! I've had it! You're GROUNDED!"

For a moment, a trace of the girl's old expression came back.

"What right do you have to ground me?" she snorted, quirking an eyebrow. "You're not my mother. Hell, we're not even related."

"So?" Haruhi demanded, folding her own arms. "I'm so tired of this. Why don't you get that you have _other,_ REAL friends?!"

"And who would that be?" the girl retorted, looking away. "If you're referring to the Host Club, don't even bother responding."

"I'm referring to myself and my father, as well as your brother," the Asian girl grumbled. "Tamaki-sempai and the others want to be your friends just as much as we do, but the problem is that you won't let us in. And since none of them have any tact whatsoever, they were all pretty much incapable of worming past the walls you raised."

"Good point," Saelind muttered. "Still, why do you want to be my friend? Are you after my fortune? Because you were told to say so?"

"I don't know, okay?!" the girl snapped, feeling unusually aggressive for some reason. "It's not like you can pick and choose the people you like or dislike! I like you, and nothing you say or do will ever change that! Saelind, I want to be your friend because it makes me feel bad to see you upset like this."

Saelind didn't answer that.

Slowly getting up, the girl walked over to the door, leaving Haruhi by herself.

"Don't bother me for a while," she stated quietly. "I need time to get over this."

"I'll be dropping by later on tonight," Haruhi retorted, ignoring how the girl stiffened. "I know you want to be alone, but I'm too stubborn to let you have that. I want you to understand that I really do care about you. You're a part of our Family, Saelind... when you hurt, so do we. Lean on us when you're not strong enough on your own."

Saelind stood there for a long moment.

"You know?" she stated softly, slowly turning her head and giving the girl a soft glare. "That attitude of yours pisses me off."

However, before she left, the girl stopped.

"But still," Saelind quietly added, not looking at Haruhi. "Thank you for your kind words."

So saying, she left the Fujioka home and returned to her own, not even realizing that a new scheme was right around the corner.


	35. Chapter 34: Festive Horror Stories

**Chapter Thirty-Four: Festive Horror Stories**

The next day, Saelind was somewhat back to her grumpy old self: it was Friday, and everyone was buzzing about the switcher dance.

She'd also started talking to people in the Host Club again, albeit sparingly if they weren't her guests. Despite the hatred she now felt for Ami, she didn't let it show: the two girls all but ignored each other in the Host Club, and despite the fact that none of the other club members knew why... well, Haruhi's glares were enough to keep anyone from asking questions. However, it was around lunch time that things took a strange turn and Saelind saw something that made her halt.

For a long moment, she was only able to stare ahead of her with uncertain eyes, not really comprehending what she was seeing.

Turning her head back and forth, the girl stared at the hall in confusion... not understanding the figure ahead of her.

She could see her classmates clearly, and all of the students in yellow were thronging everywhere in a lively manner.

And yet, not too far ahead of her, there was someone she couldn't see clearly... and that's what bothered her.

The person ahead wasn't far enough to be out of her vision range, and there was something definitely off about the blurriness around it. As she was staring, turning her head back and forth, a familiar hooded figure holding a cat puppet paused in his trek to class. As the puppet slowly wriggled its arms, Nekozawa watched as Saelind finally tilted her body to the side in an attempt to see the person down the hall. It was honestly rather frustrating, since all she could really make out was a dark blob with bits of pink.

However, just as the apparition moved and started clearing up a little, a hand touched her shoulder and she jumped.

"HEY!" she squeaked, whirling around and clamping both hands between her chest with hostile eyes. "Don't touch me!"

"Ehhhh?" Umehito droned, tilting his head like she'd been doing a few moments ago. "Sorry... I was just curious as to what you were looking at."

"That weird thing over there," Saelind snorted, rolling her eyes and pointing in the direction of the blob. "Personally, I'm kind of shocked that nobody else has noticed it yet. I mean, it's standing dead center in the middle of the hallway, so how could you not?"

Nekozawa slowly turned his body without righting himself, and Saelind kind of tiptoed away from him since the guy was a weirdo.

After a moment, however, the boy did right himself and turned to face her with a frown.

"What weird thing?" he asked, making the girl do a double take. "I don't see anything at all."

"Are you making fun of me, Beanpole?" Saelind deadpanned, scowling in fury. "Seriously, you'd have to be blind not to... huh?"

When she turned to follow her finger, the girl blinked since the blob was gone.

"You were saying?" Nekozawa asked, following her gaze and tilting his body to the side again. "Contrary to your belief, I _can_ see. I just don't see what you were looking at."

The Russian girl couldn't even process what was going on enough to feel angry at him mocking the position her body had been in earlier.

Staring at the empty spot, she blinked again and rubbed her eye before looking harder.

There was still nothing there.

"What the fuck?" she bluntly demanded, visible eye widening as goosebumps rose on her body. "Where the hell did it go?!"

"Where did _what_ go?" Nekozawa asked, staring at her with a sudden flash of delight. "Did you perhaps see a ghost?!"

Saelind didn't respond: her face had gone white, and she looked severely spooked.

If there was anything she hated more than two-faced liars, it was things she couldn't find a reasonable explanation for. And what she'd just experienced had definitely fallen into that particular category. Plain and simple, the supernatural terrified her.

"No," she finally muttered, rubbing her arms before massaging her temples. "It was probably just my eyes. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, so that has to be why I'm seeing things. Plus, Halloween is this weekend, so... suggestive hallucinations?"

"Perhaps," Nekozawa conceeded, nodding with a thoughtful expression; however, when the girl slowly turned and started off down in the direction of the abandoned music room, the hooded youth glided forward and fell into step beside her. "Do you mind if I request to sit with you today?"

That question halted Saelind dead in her tracks and she turned a suspicious eye on him.

"Why the hell would you want to?" she snorted, inching away from him with a wary expression. "Please, do explain."

"With pleasure," the boy replied, giving her that lopsided smirk and clapping his puppet's hand. "If you must know, I enjoy your particular company more than others, and I think it would be pleasant to spend the rest of the day watching you up close."

Yep, that wasn't creepy at all.

Saelind inched another few feet away before angrily thrusting her finger at him.

"It'll help me with my debt, so I can't exactly turn down the offer," she groused, eyebrow twitching; however, all of a sudden, she recalled that moment in the abandoned house when their lips had collided. Almost immediately, her wrist dangled and her eye widened, face heating up so badly that her ear and cheek turned bright pink, "b-b-but mark my words, buster! Y-you try anything funny and I-I'll kick you where the sun don't shine!"

With that, she stalked off with rigid shoulders and clenched fists.

"As you wish," the boy stated softly, crooked smirk softening into a smaller smile, "my Lady."

However, as fate would have it, when Saelind arrived at the music room... everyone was busy hustling around and there were no girls in yellow anywhere to be seen. The raven-haired girl was kind of surprised by this fact, but in a way, it was kind of a relief since it meant she wouldn't have to see Ami so soon after their breakdown.

"Eh?!" Haruhi exclaimed, glancing at her in horror when she finally noticed the Russian standing in the doorway. "Saelind, what are you doing just standing there?! Hurry, we need your help with the decorations for tomorrow's after party!"

"What after party?" the smaller girl inquired, quirking a perplexed eyebrow. "You guys called it a switcher party, not an after party."

"Oh, come on," Haruhi groaned, dropping what she was holding into Tamaki's arms and hurrying over. "We're having a small party here in the club room after the Switcher! But we need to get the decorations done now, because we'll be sleeping in a mess if we don't! Tonight, we're going to be having a sleepover in the club room, so we need to get this done!"

Saelind's mouth fell open in outrage, and she was just about to let out a protest when she paused.

Slowly turning her eyes on everyone hustling around, the girl couldn't help but remember Haruhi's words from the previous evening.

"Fine," the girl stated quietly, letting out a disheveled sigh when the brunette simply stared. "What do I do?"

"Huh?" Haruhi whispered, eyes widening in shock. "Wait, you mean... you'll help?"

"Did you not want me to?" the girl sarcastically drawled, folding her arms and tapping her foot with a glare. "Seriously, Haruhi, get your priorities straight! Do you want my help or not?"

The girl's face split into a huge grin and color filled her cheeks.

Nearby, Renge's brown eyes widened in surprise, and she stared with a hopeful expression in their direction.

"All right, then!" she chuckled, waving the dark-haired girl over to a table and pointing at some decorative cloth strips. "I'm gonna need your help stringing this up! All you really have to do is hold the ladder while I get them on the hooks."

"Oh, and after that we're all gonna need help stringing the tapestries along the walls," Renge loudly added, hurrying over with delight on her pretty face. "Thank you for agreeing to help this time!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever... still, my height might be a problem when it comes to reaching the high areas," Saelind stated slowly, rubbing her chin as she stared at the walls with a calculating expression. "If I stand on a stool on top of the ladder, maybe, but..."

"No way!" Haruhi choked, eyes widening in horror. "Nope! Not happening!"

"Meh, whatever," the girl shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Let's just get this over with so I can take a nap."

Thus, everyone began working: it was Saelind's first time ever doing something like this, and in all honesty, despite how much she wanted to deny it... she was actually enjoying herself. However, it was only a surface feeling: she was done trying to get close to people, even those who claimed to genuinely care. She didn't want to experience the pain from before.

If it happened again, she knew it would destroy her completely.

It would break her.

And she didn't want to break.

The work continued for so long that Nekozawa actually dozed off at one of the tables.

Saelvan had come into the room about an hour after his twin, and after realizing that everyone was working, he had offered some assistance as well. By the time they were all completely finished, the twins were a panting wreck, Honey was half-asleep, Mori had flopped down on the floor with a heaving chest, Tamaki was mopping his brow, and Kyouya looked sharp as ever. In the end, Haruhi and Renge finally sank down on a few of the plush cushions in the room, admiring their hard work.

The music room looked beautiful.

"We did it," Renge panted, letting out a sigh of relief. "Finally."

"I never thought we'd get it done in time," Haruhi added, shaking her head. "Took a lot out of me."

"An utterly splendid job," Tamaki chuckled, sitting up and flicking a gleaming drop of sweat off his forehead. "Well done, everyone!"

"Amen to that," the twins simultaneously droned. "We're beat."

"Takeshi?" Honey mewled, flopping down beside his cousin and poking his arm. "I wanna take a shower."

Without a word, the giant unfolded himself from the floor and held out a hand to the blonde. After taking it, the two looked around with expectant eyes: everyone else got up as well, all of them wanting to rinse off.

"I suppose we could use the showers in the east wing," Kyouya thoughtfully stated. "There shouldn't be anyone around at this time of night."

"What time is it?" Saelvan asked, looking worn out. "I don't have my watch on me."

"It's around midnight," Renge called, checking her own watch before she sauntered off with a sigh. "I'll go shower by myself."

Saelind blinked in surprise and glanced at Haruhi before staring down at her chest: she'd started binding her womanhood down a little bit to make her breasts less noticeable, but apparently, Renge hadn't even been given the memo that she and Haruhi were girls.

"We have our own place to shower," the brunette murmured, sliding up beside her with a yawn. "Thanks for all the hard work."

"Don't mention it," Saelind retorted, hissing slightly at the close contact. "Seriously."

Just as the girl turned to follow the others, however, she spotted a dark figure standing near the grand piano.

Saelind instantly froze and squinted at it, since it kept flickering and she couldn't really catch a good glimpse. Nekozawa once again caught her gaze and followed her eye, but he didn't see anything even remotely suspicious. The girl blinked and rubbed her eyes before turning around and facing the wall; then, after counting to ten, she turned to face the piano.

The shadowy figure was gone.

"Creepy," the girl muttered, shivering slightly in irritation. "I don't do creepy."

So saying, she turned around and stomped her way to the showers.

As she was undressing, however, she couldn't help but feel that the hallways had been darker than usual.

Which was obvious, since it was nighttime, but still... there was something a little off and it creeped her out.

"Hey, Saelind?" Haruhi hesitantly called from her shower stall, making the black-haired girl halt her hair-washing process. "Can I ask you a somewhat embarrassing question?"

"Depends on who it's gonna embarrass," the girl snapped. "Just spit it out."

"Well, o-okay," Haruhi muttered, then took a deep breath and all but squeaked, "do you think my boobs will _ever_ get bigger?!"

Saelind twitched, brow furrowing as she processed that.

"I honestly have no clue," the girl called back. "You're Japanese, though, so it hardly matters. On top of that, you're good-looking and you've got a figure to match your chest size. Big breasts are overrated, anyway: I honestly wish mine were smaller."

"Eh?!" Haruhi exclaimed, sounding stunned. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," the Russian girl groused. "Now leave me alone before I forcibly dunk your head in a toilet."

Haruhi giggled, obviously not thinking she was serious.

However, when they were done showering, the brunette gave her some pajamas since Saelind hadn't exactly brought her own. Then the two of them started back for the club room, side by side in total silence. However, it was right around the moment that they were about to turn the corner that Saelind heard something weird.

A tapping noise.

Halting in her tracks and tilting her head, the girl listened with furrowed brows... the tapping was rapidly growing louder, and for some reason it made her heart speed up. Trying to pick out where it was coming from, the girl slowly turned around and stared down the dark grandiose hallway with a disturbed teal eye.

She could see nothing beyond twenty feet, but it was from the darkness beyond that she was hearing the noise.

"H-hello?" she hissed, teal eye flashing around at the shadows. "Is someone there?!"

The tapping didn't change, but as it continued growing louder, Saelind realized what it was.

Rapid, thudding footsteps.

Breathing picking up as the world went muffled in her ears, the Russian girl stared down at the darkness, completely frozen.

Her eye was wide, and her face was pale.

That's when she saw something... a figure running towards her out of the darkness and bringing a myriad of shadows with it. Heart leaping up her throat when the thudding footsteps grew louder, the girl stumbled backwards and broke into a terrified run.

"HARUHIIIII!" the black-haired girl wailed, sprinting after the brunette with a terrified squeal. "WAAAAIT!"

The moment she tore around the corner, however, she crashed into the brunette's back.

And screamed, freaking the fuck out.

"KYAA!" Haruhi yelped, jumping away from her and whirling around. "Jesus, you scared me! Don't DO that!"

"S-s-s-s-sorry," Saelind stammered, shivering and peering around the corner with a dilated eye. "L-l-l-lets just get out of here!"

"Eh? Saelind, are you okay?" Haruhi asked, taking note of her shaken demeanor almost immediately. "You're... shaking. A lot."

"I-I-I'm f-f-f-fine, you m-m-moron," the girl attempted to snap, jerkily running past her and heading down the hall. "I'm n-not a blonde ditz, at least... everything should be fine, especially since horror movies are all fake."

With that cryptic response, the two of them finally entered the club room and got settled in. However, it was during the time that the club was explaining what a switcher party really _was_ that Saelind's mood worsened. She was currently sitting on a Futon, staring at the Hitachiin twins with an utterly unamused expression on her face.

"Are you serious?" she deadpanned, glaring at everyone around her. "This famous switcher party of yours is a cross-dressing festival?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Kyouya explained, scribbling away in his secret file. "Think of it as a chance to be yourself."

"I don't wanna do it," she grunted, falling back on the futon. "Why do I have to?"

"Because Hikaru and I both agree that you should go," Koaru retorted with a sunny grin. "We have officially been authorized to use excessive force in order to get you to come!"

"It's true," Kyouya comfirmed, looking up when the girl glared at him. "They're that determined make you go."

"I'd rather marry my own brother," she said quietly, teal eye twitching with extreme irritation. "You people are nuts."

Of course, Saelvan just _had_ to choose that moment to walk into the room.

His long black hair damp from his time in the shower, but he was wearing a bright pink nightgown that Renge had loaned him.

And as weird as it was, he looked like a genuine girl.

When the twins turned towards him, mouths open in shock, the tiny boy took a step back and cautiously observed their weird stares.

"What are you looking at?" the Russian boy asked, turning to look at Saelind when the stares intensified. "Um, hello? Creepy much?"

"Wow," Saelind sighed, pressing a hand against her forehead in a disgruntled fashion, "awkward timing, Vanny."

"Seriously, what the hell is their problem?" the boy demanded, realizing that his friends weren't going to answer him since Tamaki, of course, was too busy laughing his ass off to get a word in edgewise, and the others looked like they were either going to toss up their lunch or faint from pure amazement. "What the hell did you just say to them, Lindy?"

"I might," the girl slowly drawled out, seriously having trouble keeping a straight face, "have insinuated that you and I are madly in love and are planning to run away to the United States for our taboo wedding. I was just asking the boys here if our colors should be ruby and salmon or periwinkle and navy. I'm a little partial to the periwinkle myself, but you do have a slight say."

The boy instantly rolled his eyes.

"You're a jerk," he grumbled, glaring at her with a pout. "You do realize that, don't you?"

"Yup," she snorted, seemingly unaffected by his dismayed expression. "Still, if I'm being dragged to this little party tomorrow, could you at least tell me what you're gonna force me to wear? I swear to God, if it's another Goth Lolita dress, I'll kill myself."

"That's a secret," Haruhi instantly told her, smiling gently. "Don't worry, it's not a Loli dress."

"Personally, I thought she looked rather nice in the Lolita dress," Nekozawa piped up, scaring the shit out of Tamaki and quite a few other members since nobody had really noticed that he'd sat down in the middle of their group. "It was a wonderful outfit."

Saelind scowled and chose to ignore that.

"Well, now that we're all assembled," Tamaki finally sighed, choosing to speak up for the first time in a while, "why don't we think of an activity to do? It is pretty close to Halloween, so we should most likely make the theme... ghost stories?"

"Tama-chan, that's a great idea!" Honey exclaimed, crawling into Mori's lap and squeezing his rabbit with bright eyes. "Let's do it!"

"Okay, then," the princely blonde laughed, leaning forward with bright indigo eyes. "Who wants to go first!"

"Wait," the twins chorused, getting up and hurrying around the room; when Hikaru came back with a small table and a candle, Mori pulled a lighter out of his pocket and tossed it to him. Saelind blinked, since she was rather surprised he would even have such a random object on his person, but she let it go once the candle was lit since Kaoru turned the lights off.

"Now that's more like it!" Haruhi murmured, scooting close to the flickering candle light. "This might even be fun."

"So, who should go first?" Tamaki asked, looking around with an eager expression. "Does anyone know any good stories?"

"Why not let Nekozawa-senpai go first?" the brunette inquired, glancing at the shadowed youth. "He seems to be interested in the occult, so I'm sure he'd know a lot of good ghost stories."

"Well, if you insist, I'll tell you one," Nekozawa chuckled darkly, making everyone aside from Kyouya swallow. "I feel slightly guilty about how high I'm going to set this bar, though."

"G-go on!" Suoh exclaimed, trembling despite his smile. "We're all eager to here it!"

Everyone leaned forward when he chuckled lowly and gave them his trademark lopsided grin.

"One night, there was a big black book with the words 'Dark Magic written on the Cover'," he whispered eerily, making Saelind's gut fill with a bit of pleasant apprehension. "But on the inside... the words 'Lovely Magical Girls' blazed in bold fashion! GYAAAAA!"

When he clutched his face and screamed in horror, everyone stared at him with expectant eyes.

"And?" Kyouya inquired, lifting an eyebrow. "Then what happened?"

"Huh? Nothing," Nekozawa stated with a blink, clapping his little puppet's hands. "That's the end."

"Great! Who's next?" Tamaki asked, smiling at everyone in relief. "Anyone else have a story?"

"I have one!" Honey called, lifting a hand with bright eyes; then, leaning forward, he looked at them all with serious eyes. "It's called... wait for it... _the scary cake that came to life!_"

"That sounds like a funny story," everyone in the room chorused at the same time.

"Eh?!" Honey squeaked, looking around in surprise. "No, it's not! It's actually very scary!"

"Who's next?" the twins simultaneously drawled, rolling their eyes in a synchronized fashion. "Anyone?"

"I hope you're all wearing you're underwear," Haruhi finally sighed, leaning forward with a smirk, "because I have a pretty good one."

Thus, leaning forward, she told a not-so-scary story about an old man living alone in his home and seeing himself hanging from a ceiling rafter by a rope. It was mildly disturbing, but it didn't really freak Saelind out all that much for some reason. Everyone else had enjoyed it quite a bit, though, and amusingly enough... Tamaki ended up getting goosebumps.

"Wonderful, Haruhi!" he exclaimed, looking around with delighted eyes. "Why don't I go next? I know a good one, myself!"

"Go for it," Mori stated calmly, setting a hand on Honey's head and ruffling his hair.

"Well, it all started when a large and extended family visited a huge mansion on a deserted island," Tamaki whispered, using his best serious expression as he looked around. "The different branches of the family didn't really get along with each other, and they had all traveled to the manor because it belonged to their great grandmother, who had passed away and left everything in the will."

"I've heard this story before," Saelind sighed, shaking her head when Tamaki blinked. "There isn't a single foreigner who hasn't."

"I've heard it, too," Haruhi murmured apologetically, and Tamaki was disappointed to see other heads nodding in agreement. "Sorry."

"Well, no matter!" the blonde cheerfully exclaimed, striking a princely pose. "That was the best story I had up my sleeve, so who's next? The Hitachiin twins, perhaps?"

"We got nothing," they stated simultaneously, giving a bored shrug. "We don't know any good ghost stories."

"Kyouya?" Tamaki asked, looking at his best friend as a last resort. "Do you?"

"Unfortunately, I've never taken an interest in the paranormal," the boy stated calmly, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I doubt I'd be able to tell a story that seems even relatively plausible, let alone frightening."

"Anyone? Mori-san?" Tamaki asked, looking at the giant with puppy eyes. "Do you have one?"

The boy slowly blinked and mutely shook his head.

However, just as the prince of the Host Club was about to deflate, Saelvan startled everyone by timidly lifting a hand.

"If you don't mind," he stated softly, looking highly uncomfortable, "I have a rather scary story, but... but it doesn't have anything to do with ghosts. In fact, it's actually a true story... it happened to someone I know fairly well."

Saelind blinked and stared at her brother in surprise.

"You know a _true_ scary story?!" she scoffed, making him look at her with grim and hollow eyes; the girl frowned when she took note of his abnormally dark expression, and she instinctively felt as though he were chiding her. "As long as it isn't about... you know, stuff that happened to us, by all means... go ahead, Vanny. "

"Yes, do tell," Tamaki sighed, looking at him expectantly. "We'd love to hear it."

"Well, all right," Saelvan stated softly, looking down at the floor with an uncomfortable expression. "Well, where do I begin? It happened a very long time ago, when I was still practically a toddler... but I've overheard this story so many times in our family manor that I know it by heart now."

"Tell us!" Haruhi whispered, looking extremely interested. "I'm actually kind of curious to hear it!"

"Okay," Saelvan murmured, eyes going blank. "In truth, this is something that's been haunting me for years. It's about three children from Russia, a... a set of twins and their older sister. To protect their privacy, I'm going to call the twins Karin and Keita, and their older sister will be... um, Mai? Yeah, Mai works."

Kyouya's eyes flicked up, eyes sparking for some unknown reason when the boy tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling.

"So?" Honey asked, leaning forward with wide eyes. "What happened to them?"

"Well, it goes something like this: in the beginning, Mai and her family were very wealthy and very happy people," Saelvan stated softly, eyes becoming far away. "After her siblings were born, Mai was extremely protective of them, to the point where her feelings blotted out even those their parents had. In truth, for the first three years of their life, their elder sister was the one who took care of them."

"She sounds like a wonderful person," Haruhi sighed, shaking her head. "That's a great older sister for you."

"Yeah, she was, actually," Saelvan murmured, lowering his eyes to the candle. "Sadly, though, by the time the twins were three years old, their parents had taken interest in their son. However, it slowly became obvious to Mai that their parents were planning on handing all of the family titles to him. That part wasn't what bothered her, though: in fact, she was happy just being with her family and she didn't really care about things like fame or fortune. What bothered her was this: even though Mai's brother was the favored child, their parents began devoting all of their time to him, and they started ignoring her _and_ her little sister completely."

"Oh, no!" Honey whispered, eyes widening in shock. "Really?!"

"Yes," Saelvan stated quietly, not looking away from the candle. "By the time it became clear that her parents were purposely ignoring her, Mai had just turned eight years old and she'd was in her last year of elementary school. However, every day when it was time to go home, her little sister was always standing by the gates, waiting for her to come outside."

"Aw!" Haruhi gushed, clutching her cheeks. "How cute!"

"More like scary... at least for Mai," Saelvan corrected, giving her a solemn look that made her stare. "You have to remember that these people were very wealthy... in fact, you could even say that they were royalty. It's more accurate."

"Oh, dear... you're right, that's not safe," Tamaki instantly stated, furrowing his brows. "Children with important bloodlines shouldn't be wandering around on their own. It's extremely dangerous."

"You're absolutely right, and Mai told her that every day," the boy confirmed, sadly shaking his head, "but little Karin was lonely, and she loved her big sister so much that she just couldn't help it. Every day, she waited by that gate, despite the lectures... and it finally got to the point where Mai actually yelled at her. That day, Mai said that she hated Karin and ran off, leaving her little sister behind."

"What?!" the twins demanded, looking at each other in horror at the same time. "No way!"

"Way," the boy confirmed, closing his eyes. "What she didn't know was that Karin chased after her. And that's where things took a terrible turn."

When he halted and opened his eyes, Saelind stiffened up since a strange vision flickered behind her eyelid. For a moment, she thought she remembered something, like a memory from a dream... there was a girl... with long black hair. Dark hands reaching down? A face...? A... dark splotch?

"What happened?" Saelind demanded in a low tone, staring at the floor with furrowed brows. "Keep going..."

"Apparently," Saelvan mumbled, swallowing before he continued, "someone had been stalking Mai for a while, which was why she hadn't wanted her sister to wait for her. That day... her stalker decided to abduct her, and that's exactly what he did: after Mai ran off, she somehow found herself in the arms of the strange man, but because Karin had followed her... she was _also_ abducted. And the worst part was that the entire country knew by that point that Keita was going to inherit his rightful place as a leader one day."

"Wait, what does that have to do with the girls?" Honey asked, intrigued. "If Keita was safe, why was it bad? Well, obvious reasons aside."

"Because back then, nobody could tell the twins apart aside from Mai and their mother," Saelvan explained, making people gasp all around in horror. "Yes, you see? When the man abducted Mai, he took Karin along thinking she was Keita... but that's not where the nightmare was even close to ending... not at all. After he abducted them, he took the girls to an abandoned hospital and tied them down on some decrepit beds. Then he left them there and demanded a ransom."

"Oh, my God!" Haruhi whispered, eyes widening in shock. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," the Russian boy confirmed, giving a small nod. "He hid himself in an old arcade while his demands were being met, but when the police found him, he tried to run. And in the process, he was hit by truck and killed on impact: because of that, nobody knew where the girls had been taken. Nobody even knew where to look for them. Days began to pass as the policemen searched, looking for the little girls... but when someone finally tipped them off, they managed to find the hospital."

"Did they find them?" Mori asked, looking highly disturbed. "Were the children all right?"

Saelvan looked at him with cold eyes.

"No..." he stated quietly, then looked straight at Saelind and said, "Mai had died nearly two days before they'd arrived, but Karin... somehow, she was still alive. The most horrifying part of this story, however, isn't in the fact that they were kidnapped... it's the fact that Karin had watched her elder sister slowly die out from hydration and hunger, not even two feet away from her."

The candle flickered when he fell silent.

"Is there more?" Honey asked, looking at Saelvan with shaken eyes. "What happened to Karin after that?"

"Well, when she was returned home, she started having nightmares every night," the boy muttered. "And she would also sleepwalk... but it was always to the same place: the balcony on the second floor of their home. One night, after getting out of bed and sleepwalking to the balcony, her brother spotted her. And when he woke her up, she was so startled that she lost her balance and flipped over the edge of it."

"No!" Haruhi whined, covering her mouth in horror. "No, no, no! Was she okay?!"

"Well, she lived, if that's what you're asking," Saelvan sighed, shaking his head. "However, Karin lost all of her memories because of that accident: the first three years of her life had been completely erased. However, I heard before I came here that she's doing a lot better now: she and her brother are both living happily, despite the fact that their terrible family situation hasn't changed."

"That was such a sad story," Tamaki whimpered, looking at the Russian boy with big, watering eyes. "Oh, I feel so bad for little Keita-san and Karin-chan... and poor Mai-chan!"

"I think we should all go to sleep," Saelind abruptly stated, making everyone stare at her. "I... I'm kind of tired."

"Ehhh?!" Hikaru mischievously drawled, smirking at her. "Did that story scare you?"

"Yes, actually," the girl stated blanlly, making him blink; that's when the redhead noticed her dilated pupil. "I don't know why, but it really did. Normally, stories like that don't phase me since lots of people have attempted to kidnap my brother over the years, but somehow... that story... um, I just don't like for some reason. It gave me a weird feeling in the center of my gut."

"Sorry, sis!" Saelvan exclaimed, waving his arms with startled eyes. "It was just a story! I didn't mean to spook you that bad!"

"Don't worry," the girl muttered, rolling her eyes and flopping down. "I'm tired, so I'm gonna turn in."

"Same here," Honey yawned, stretching before nuzzling his rabbit. "Takeshi, wanna sleep with me?"

"Sure," the giant murmured.

When everyone else lay down on the futons that one of Kyouya's random men in black had brought in, Saelind snuggled beneath the cool, clean feathered blankets and sighed in relief. When she closed her eyes, she started falling asleep almost instantly… but she kind of fell into that area where she was still kind of conscious even though sleep was descending on her. She thought she was dreaming when she heard a familiar faint thumping that rapidly grew louder until it was practically right next to her.

For a moment, she felt a gentle wind across her cheek... and for a split second, she thought it was soothing.

However, only a moment later it got really cold.

Still almost asleep, Saelind rolled over and turned her back on the draft… but then she heard something.

Someone breathing...?

When the girl slowly lifted her heavy eyelid, she honestly thought she was having a nightmare because there was a beautiful black-haired girl lying on the floor right next to her: she looked maybe around eight or nine years old and she was looking at Saelind with big, glazed emerald eyes through the soft black curls that were plastered against her pale skin.

Saelind watched with a dazed teal eye as the girl's mouth moved and her long-lashed eyes finally slid closed.

Then, for some reason, a fly that was buzzing around landed on her soft, ghostly lips.

But she didn't move.

When Saelind felt another freezing draft and processed what she was actually looking at, her mind snapped to awareness and she opened her eye all the way. The little girl was gone, but the club room doors had opened up and the decorations in the room were fluttering a little. Saelind hastily got up and closed the wooden doors, but then she turned around and pressed her back against them.

"What the hell is going on around here?' Saelind whispered, shivering slightly. "Am I seriously having hallucinations?!"

However, she jumped when she heard the thumping footsteps start up again.

Only, this time it seemed as though they were fading away.

Regardless, the girl decided to sleep next to her brother after that.

There was no way in hell she was sleeping without him next to her after all the creepy shit she'd been through that day.


	36. Chapter 35: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

**Chapter Thirty-Five: Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall...**

As weird as it was, Saelind slept surprisingly well despite what had happened the previous afternoon: when she woke up, it was only because everyone else had gotten up as well. Her brother had literally been forced to shake her awake, and since there was no school due to it being a Saturday, there wasn't really much else to do aside from... well, whatever it is people did before a Halloween party.

"Saelind?" Haruhi called, jogging over and bending down to look at the groggy-eyed girl; she was currently staring at a random spot beside the empty futon she'd been sleeping in with quite a puzzled look on her face. "Saelind, are you awake?"

"Huh?" the girl grumpily demanded, turning a glazed teal eye on her; Haruhi's brow twitched with an urge to laugh when she realized that Saelind's long hair had practically turned into a haystack. "You say somethin'?"

"N-not at all," the brunette giggled, covering her mouth with red cheeks. "J-just wondering if you're r-ready to get... dressed..."

Saelind blinked before letting out a boyish yawn and scratching her head; then she paused and felt around in confusion.

"Ugh, not again," she muttered, looking around for something before she blinked. "Oh, right... no brush."

It was around that very moment that everyone in the room noticed her hilarious predicament: eyes widened all over the place.

"Wow! Sael-chan! Sael-chan! Look at your hair!" Honey squealed, running over and poking the impressive haystack. "It's HUGE!"

"I have to admit, I'm rather impressed by how you managed to do all that," Kyouya added, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Especially while you were sleeping, at that."

"Oh, shut up," the girl snapped, face heating up. "I sleep next to my brush for a reason, you morons: long hair is a pain to deal with in the mornings."

"She's right, you know," Haruhi chuckled, nodding with sympathetic eyes. "The hardships those with long hair face are rather discomforting."

"Is that so?" Tamaki asked, bounding over and blinking at her with large eyes. "I never knew you felt like that about long hair... but wait... does this mean you won't ever grow your beautiful hair back?! NO! I mustn't allow this to happen! Oh, Haruhi, be a good girl and let Daddy..."

The prince-mode cracked when Haruhi smiled pleasantly before throwing a vicious glare at him.

His entire body froze and turned to marble; after that, she whisked past without a care in the world, looking for a spare change of clothes.

However, it was right around that moment that Kyouya approached her with the smile she hated so much.

When he halted in front of where she was sitting, the girl lifted a tired eye and glared at him.

"Can I help you?" she snorted, quirking an irritated eyebrow. "You're being unusually forward today."

"Well, how rude," he stated with a smirk, opening his sharp eyes and giving her such a cold expression that she winced. "I simply wanted to tell you that the process to get you ready for the switcher party is going to take all day long, so we should honestly get started sooner rather than later."

"I don't want to go to some stupid Halloween bump-and-grind," Saelind bluntly replied, forcing back the anger welling up inside her chest due to the look he was giving her; he was always looking down on her as though she were lesser than him, and she hated. "I really don't want to."

"Saelind Heseroph," Kyouya kindly sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose with a small smile. "You're telling me that you'd rather wallow in your troubles than actually do something about them?"

"I don't have problems," Saelind snapped, twitching when she realized that he'd caught wind of what had happened between her and Ami. "Back off."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Kyouya drawled. "In fact, the amount of money I spent on this endeavor was more than I had anticipated, and I'm afraid I can't let it all go to waste because of your petty desires. Your options are either coming with me to the dressing room I've prepared or forcing me to have some people drag you there by force. Which would you prefer?"

For a long moment, Saelind didn't respond.

Her shoulders were shaking, her eye was hidden by her hair, and her jaw was clenched: when she finally looked up at him, her pupil had contracted into a catlike slit.

"I hate you with everything inside me," she hissed in a slow tone; however, before she knew what she was doing, the tiny girl was standing up, pushing her feet into the slippers Haruhi had loaned her, and touching her hair. "Fine. You win again."

Everyone in the room got a serious case of the shivers when Kyouya merely smiled as though a business deal had just been closed.

"I'm glad you understand the situation," he stated smoothly, gesturing towards the door. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, please follow me."

"I do mind, actually," Saelind snapped, stomping after him when he walked away. "I hate you."

"I know," the boy slyly retorted, smirking despite himself, "but perhaps after this is over, you might not hate me as much."

"I doubt it," the girl muttered, closing her eye when two women dressed in maid outfits approached them and led Saelind into the dressing room. "Loser."

"Your stylist will be here soon: do try to be polite... he doesn't take any nonsense," the boy stated simply, walking to the door with a satisfied expression; oddly enough, though, before he could leave the room he stopped and turned his head to look at her again. Saelind quirked an eyebrow since, for some strange reason, his silver eyes weren't nearly as sharp as they usually were. "Oh, and by the way? I hope that after tonight, you will remember what your end goal truly is. Let this be the Host Club's way of giving you some motivation to continue moving forward."

With that, he turned and left the room..

_Damn prick thinks he's all that, _the girl silently grumbled, wincing when the maids set her down and started dragging some combs through her haystack. _No wonder everyone calls him the Shadow King. He's the one who's really in charge around here._

"Please tilt your head back," the first maid kindly requested. "We're applying the hairnet now."

"Hairnet?" Saelind inquired, doing as she was asked with uncertain eyes. "What for?!"

She got her answer when the woman drew her bangs out of her eyes and pulled her hair behind her head: Saelind's eye widened in shock and she froze when the two women stared for a moment, but then they continued working as though nothing had happened. The Russian girl felt rather unnerved by that point... and when they bundled up her long hair and pinned it back extremely tightly, she felt even more anxious. However, after the hairnet was set in place, the maids stepped back and the doors flew open almost at the exact same time. Saelind turned her eye and stared at the arrival when he looked around, flicking his shades down and staring at everything with a totally baffled expression.

However, when she caught sight of his weathered face and recognized him, the girl's jaw dropped open and she gasped.

"No way!" Saelind choked, bolting upright and staring at him in shock. "Oh my God... I've got to be dreaming right now. This isn't possible!"

"_I beg your pardon?_" the man inquired in English, looking at her with furrowed brows. "_I don't speak Japanese._"

"Oh, uh, well... _I speak English,_" the girl stammered in the same language, shaking her head before she twitched and covered the left half of her face; all of a sudden, she felt horrified since the man could see her scars. "I swear to God, I am going to _murder_ Kyouya next time I see him. Stupid four eyes..."

"_I presume you're Saelind Heseroph, then?_" the man inquired, stepping forward and holding out a hand. "_Pleasure to meet you. My name is Richard Taylor._"

Saelind reverently shook his hand, then stared at her tiny palm with a glittering teal eye.

"_I'm gonna die from the shock running through me,_" she whispered, looking up at him with a dazed expression "_Despite my rank in the political hierarchy, I honestly never imagined I'd ever have the opportunity to shake hands with the make-up artist who worked on almost everyone from the Lord of the Rings! Your skills in cosmetics are legendary, to the point where even I have heard of them! This is truly an honor, sir!_"

"_Huh? Is that what people overseas are saying about me these days?_" the man asked, scratching his head. "_I'm just a Hollywood movie director, hon... I only double as a cosmetician on the side. Still, I'm glad to know you admire me and my work so much, because today I'm going to be working my magic on **you,** my dear._"

And in that moment, Saelind really _did_ almost die from the shock that went through her.

This was like every girl's dream come true.

"A-are you serious?!" she squealed, jabbing her chest with her little hands. "You're going to be working on ME?! The man who made Legolas _hot,_ working on ME?!"

"Yes," the man chuckled, smiling at her enthusiasm. "However, I've also been requested to keep the end result a secret until we're finished, so you're not really going to know what I'm doing until later on tonight. I do have to one thing to ask before we begin due to a warning from the man who hired me. So, my dear, may I have your full permission to work my magic on you? It's going to involve a lot of physical contact, especially on your face."

"Eh?" Saelind asked, teal eye going blank; after a moment of swallowing her fears, she clenched her jaw and nodded curtly. "Of course: you have my full permission."

"Well, then, let's get started," the man sighed, pale blue eyes brightening up. "Please, have a seat."

When Saelind did as she was told and sat down, the American man set his bags down and started rummaging through them: the pale girl winced when he slid around her body and sat down on a stool in front of her. His eyes narrowed when he took in her scars, and for a moment, he paused. After running a hesitantly finger over the puckered flesh on her left side, he gently tilted her chin upwards and examined her neck.

Then his brow smoothed over and he nodded, looking utterly relieved.

"I can work with this... you have a very unique facial structure, but your cheekbones are especially beautiful," he murmured, then leaned down and dabbed his make-up brush in some sort of powder. "All right, let's get started."

Saelind closed her eyes and tried to relax when the brush started sweeping along her cheeks. The right half of her face felt dry and grainy after a while, but she put up with it because the man sitting in front of her was world-famous for his cosmetic talent. After he put the brush away, he pulled some type of putty out of his bag and began applying it to her face.

"What is this stuff?" Saelind asked, closing one eye when he began to mold it over her left cheek and across both of her ears. "It kinda feels like Playdough."

"Good guess," the man murmured quietly, so focused on what he was doing that the response was almost instinctive. "It's certainly similar to it."

"Well, what's it for?" the Russian girl quipped, shivering when his fingers slid the dough across her face. "It feels kinda weird."

"Haven't you ever wondered how people make themselves look like elves and monsters in the movies you watch?" the man asked, spreading more putty onto the right half of her face before he pulled a small scalpel out and began to smooth it over. "This is how we do it: this putty becomes a kind of mask."

"Whoa, really?" Saelind asked, feeling mildly surprised. "I always thought it was just awesome special effects..."

"Well, yes, CGI scanning can help us smooth over any mistakes we might make during the make-up preparations," Richard allowed, pulling back and examining her features before smiling in a delighted way, "but still, most of the magic comes from all the hard work the cosmeticians put in. Now, please close your eyes."

"Yes, sir," Saelind muttered, swallowing hard before she did as she was told. "This isn't going to hurt, is it?"

"Not at all," the man chuckled, and only a split second later, she felt an odd pressure bloom near her left eye. "Don't move, now."

Saelind shivered when the pressure slid across her blind eye and made gentle strokes.

Then again, it was sort of rhythmic and almost soothing: she waited with her eyes closed as the man dabbed at her eyes.

_I'm gonna have to be careful not to fall asleep,_ the Russian girl realized, feeling a bit startled. _If I do, and he touches me, I might retaliate out of instinct._

However, her train of thought was cut off when the man pulled a canister of spray out of his bag and shook it.

"My dear, keep your eyes closed, close your mouth tightly, and hold your breath," Richard stated firmly, then gently tapped the clay on her nose. "This stuff isn't good for your body, so try to avoid breathing it in."

"Yes, sir," Saelind muttered, taking a breath and holding it; he immediately started spraying, but when he was finished, he tapped her nose again. "Perfect. Now, open your eyes and blink, then try to make your normal expressions."

Doing as she was told, Saelind opened her eyes and blinked; then she scowled, made a sarcastic face, frowned, and tried her hardest to smile.

It came out looking like a frightening grimace.

"So, what now?" Saelind asked, looking at him with an eager teal eye. "Any other magic tricks up your sleeve?"

"Quite a bunch," the man murmured, gripping her chin and turning her head from side to side before he gave a slow smile. "Perfect... now the real fun begins."

So saying, he started shaping the putty on her ears and a long day of getting ready for the switcher party began.

Richard was a gentle and straight-forward man... so much, in fact, that when he asked about her life back in Russia that she was honest about how bad it sucked.

She told him bits and pieces about her house, and she mentioned how her brother was sort of an airhead, but in a frustratingly lovable way.

Mostly the normal stuff.

After about six hours of being worked had gone by, however, different topics began to pop up: he asked about the school, and also about her classes. In a way, he seemed rather fatherly, and despite how many times she had been hurt by people she didn't know... especially after what had happened with Ami... she kind of liked him, and she felt like she could trust him. Even though her instincts were screaming that she was being too nice all over again.

After stopping to take a lunch break, the man sat down and mopped his brow: he was sweating and his curly hair was plastered to his scalp.

"Are you all right?" Saelind asked, quirking an eyebrow when he blinked at her. "You look kinda worn out."

"Oh, no, not at all," Richard laughed, face instantly relaxing before he took a bite of the food one of the maids had brought. "Quite the contrary, I'm so enthusiastic about the way this is turning out that it's worked my body up again. Still, I get so focused on my work that I forget to take breaks, which causes a lot of exertion."

"Is that so?" Saelind asked, taking a bite of her own food. "Well, at least you're enthusiastic about what you do for a living. I don't think I'll ever really say the same."

"And why ever not?" the man asked, blinking at her in surprise. "Surely a girl your age has at least one enjoyable hobby?"

Saelind was silent for a moment, chewing with an almost bitter expression.

"Not anymore," she finally muttered, shaking her head. "Back before my face was scarred up, I did have a nice hobby... but it's not the same now."

"Well, would you mind sharing?" the man asked, making her glance at him suspiciously. "I'm only a little curious. If you don't want to, that's fine, too."

"Singing," the girl grumbled, averting her eyes with a scowl. "When I was younger, singing was my hobby."

"Well, now, that's an admirable start," the cosmetician chuckled, leaning forward with an interested expression. "So, what kind of songs?"

Saelind's face turned red and she huddled her shoulders up in embarrassment.

"Celtic," she muttered almost inaudibly, pouting when he blinked at her like a startled owl. "Before the fire, people sometimes even used to record me singing without getting my permission, which kind of pissed me off. One of my songs actually ended up on the news thanks to the stupid paparazzi."

"Sounds like you did a good job, then," the man whistled, shaking his head. "The media only shows things that are interesting enough to catch attention."

"Obviously," Saelind snorted, scowling a bit. "Then again, my family is usually all the media really talks about: they have at least one snippet about us every time they show the news, and it really used to piss me off since we had no privacy whatsoever."

"You aren't the only one who feels that way," the man chuckled, taking another bite of his food. "Many of the actors and actresses have psychological breakdowns because of all the people who invade their private lives. Normal chances at romance are also destroyed by them constantly, and in the end, many famous people either end up single or they marry another famous actor or actress for publicity. It's very rare for those who are well-recognized to find happiness."

"True, but in that regard, I didn't have a choice in the matter," the girl retorted, giving him a shrug. "After all, I'm famous simply because I'm a princess."

She shuddered at the use of the word, but sadly enough, there really wasn't a better way to describe her rank in the political hierarchy.

No matter how much she hated it, she _was_ a princess. Period.

"In all honesty, another person wouldn't know that about you at a first glance," the man chuckled, finishing his meal before standing up and motioning for her to sit down in the chair, "but after I'm done with you, there won't be a single person who won't think that's exactly what you are. Now that the base work has been finished, it's time to get started on your make-up."

"Fine," she sighed, closing her eyes when he started rummaging around in his bag. "I'll trust you."

So saying, the man began dabbing another brush into some foundation and started putting the makeup on her face. The gentle strokes were soothing, albeit a little rough... but once he was finished, he moved onto her eyes. Saelind blinked when he somehow managed to get some false lashes on her left eyelid, but once they were set, he rubbed some sort of brush through the lashes on her right eye. Her eye watered from the itching sensation that followed his movements, but she bit her tongue and ignored the feeling.

Then he grabbed some lip gloss out of his bag and slowly slid it across her mouth.

"Alright... aside from your hair, we're nearly done," the man muttered, massaging the girl's lips before capping the gloss and moving behind her; after removing the hairnet and setting it down, the man released her pinned tresses. However, when it tumbled down to her backside like a waterfall of darkness, he twitched a little before he examined the length with an admiring expression. "My word... your hair is incredibly long."

"Well, duh: I've never cut it," Saelind snorted, rolling her eyes. "I've had the ends trimmed a bit over the years, but I've never actually had a haircut before."

"That's rather amazing," the man replied, putting a long white ribbon between his teeth and running his fingers through her extremely long hair; he instantly blinked since the Russian's tresses felt like cold satin against his skin. "Dear Lord... what manner of products do you use to treat your hair?!"

"I Russian products," the girl replied, blinking before she lifted a hand and touched her hair. "It's really not a special brand or anything... in fact, where I live, it's pretty much found in almost every corner store."

"What's the name of it?" he breathed, touching her hair with large eyes. "I've never seen someone with hair like yours before."

"It's called _Natura Siberica,*_" the girl explained, giving him a frown. "Seriously, it's a really common shampoo and conditioner set. Why is everyone always asking me what type of hair products I use?"

"Because your hair is beautiful," the man sighed, shaking his head before he started running a brush through her glistening locks. "It's what almost every girl dreams of achieving at some point in their life."

"Stop joking," Saelind muttered sourly, making a very flat expression. "I don't like it."

"I'm not joking," Richard replied, pulling her bangs behind her head and tying them with the ribbon; then he skillfully braided the hair that had been pulled back. "I'm being quite honest: I asked for the brand because I intend to order a box of it after I return to Hollywood. Angelina Jolie and a few other well-known actresses have been worried about their hair losing the youthful shine many of them need: I appreciate you telling me the name of the brand."

"No problem," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I still think you're trying to flatter me, though."

"There's no need for flattery any longer... because to put it simply, I'm almost done with the basic things," the man explained, tying a second ribbon into the back of her hair and fastening the braid. After inspecting the style and making sure there were no stray hairs, Richard smiled and eagerly made his way around to the front so he could examine Saelind's face. "All right, looks good."

"Really?" she asked, blinking at him in surprise. "Can I look now?"

"No, not yet," he chuckled, shaking his head before he handed her a dress and a strip of red cloth; when she stared at the items, he smiled widely. "Now, please put that blindfold on and get dressed without looking at the selection that's been chosen for you. I'll wait outside until you've changed, but once you're dressed, the last touches are going to be made."

"B-blindfold?" Saelind asked, blinking in surprise. "Why do I have to blindfold myself?"

"I promised to keep your appearance a secret from you until everything was ready," the cosmetician sighed, giving her a shrug. "Please, just humor me?"

"Fine," Saelind muttered, angrily tying the blindfold onto her head; when the sound of the door opening and closing met her ears, she hesitantly undressed herself and felt around for the outfit she'd been given. After feeling around for the neck hole, she was rather startled to realize that it didn't have one: the dress was completely backless, and there was only a pair of thin, satin-like strips to keep it in place around her neck. "Jeez, this is a little overboard..."

Still, despite her irritation, the girl slid the dress on and tentatively tied the strings behind her back.

"Are you almost ready?" Richard called, knocking on the door. "It's getting close to the deadline I was asked to meet."

"I'm ready," the black-haired girl groused, waiting until door opened to let out a sigh. "So, what now?"

"What now?" the man breathed, sounding thoroughly amazed. "Well, in all honesty, you probably wouldn't even need the rest to steal the show tonight... but I was asked to make this as memorable as possible. Here. Lift your arms."

"Like this?" Saelind grumbled, raising her arms above her head.

"Exactly," Richard confirmed, letting out a chuckle. "Don't move... this might feel a little strange, but I promise it will be worth it in the end."

However, the tiny female twitched when two leather straps slid down to her shoulders: not long after, an odd weight similar to a backpack was resting between her shoulder blades. Then, before she could so much as ask what he was doing, a cold metallic sensation was pressed against the back of her neck, and six more were placed on both of her arms, each. Once the metal started to warm up against her skin, the man slid a circlet around her head.

Saelind flinched when a sudden buzzing sensation met her ears.

"What the heck is this?!" she hissed, touching her forehead in alarm. "Why is it vibrating?!"

For a long moment, Richard didn't answer.

"Oh, my God..." he whispered from a small distance away. "I can't believe this... you... how could..."

"What is it?" the girl demanded, feeling the anxiety rising up her throat. "Did I mess something up?! How do I look?"

"Take the blindfold off after I let go of you," Richard whispered, clasping her hand and gently pulling her in an unseen direction. "You're ready."

When he let go, Saelind did as she was told.

However, when she looked into the full-length mirror, for nearly thirty seconds... it felt as though her heart had stopped.

As though time were slowing down, Saelind Heseroph's teal eyes, blind and not, grew so impossibly wide that she couldn't even blink.

Her shoulders locked up... her mouth fell open... and her body began to shake involuntarily due to the raw emotion overloading her heartstrings.

"Who is that?" she whispered, staring at the woman in the mirror with stunned teal eyes. "That's... she's... no way. That's not me. This isn't real mirror, it can't be!"

So saying, she actually lifted her hand and tried to touch the person she was seeing, but her pale fingertips were met with the sensation of cold glass.

It was in that moment that she really could have fainted: she saw spots, but for some reason, she was so transfixed that her vision refused to be blotted out.

For the first time in her life, Saelind didn't recognize the person in the mirror: the right half of her face was glittering with gorgeous silver sparkles, and the amazing part was that Richard had somehow made the glitter shift to a dark blue as it progressed to her left cheek. On top of that, her eyes had been coated in a very light touching of periwinkle mascara, she had glittering black eyeliner that tapered off to the sides in a sharp, Sphinx-like manner, and her lashes looked thicker.

However, the most incredible part out of everything was this: her face was whole.

Unscarred.

This was her face... the face from before the fire.

Slowly lifting her hand, Saelind touched her left cheek as startled tears filled her right eye.

"This is me," she whispered, voice coming out incredibly high-pitched. "This is the me I used to be... how did you do this?!"

"The make-up is waterproof," the man chuckled, giving her a smile. "I tried to make your hair look similar to the style that Drew Barrymore had in the movie, _Ever After_, but I've never seen hair as long as yours in real life, so I was actually itching to make it look as beautiful as possible. You look like a princess right now."

Saelind felt as though that were the most extreme understatement in the history of existence.

Even the outfit she was wearing perfectly matched the work done to her face: the dress was completely white in the right side, but like the sparkles on her face, it slowly slid to a blue so dark it was almost black. Her entire back was bare, but her long hair covered all of the open area: the selection fit her small-boned figure very snugly around the torso, but the flared skirt billowed freely around her legs with every puff of air.

Slowly twirling around, Saelind closed her eyes spread her arms before picking up pace.

Her dark hair picked up altitude, then cascaded back down in rippling waves of shadow.

"A princess? Yeah, right... at the moment, I look more like a _queen,"_ Saelind croaked, lowering her hand and staring at her newly pointed ears; then she examined the circlet resting on her head like a medieval crown before looking down at the silver bands on her arms. "Still, what are the ears and the bands for?"

"Well, the ears are a part of your costume," the make-up artist explained, then tapped her back, "and the bands have been computerized with the latest modifications American technology has to offer. In short, they've been placed on specific nerve lines to control the wings on your back: all you have to do is think them into action and they'll move by themselves."

"Wings?" Saelind asked, turning her body to the side; however, she gasped and stared with huge eyes when she realized that there were indeed two artificial angel wings resting against her back. Not only that... they were utterly enormous, but the most ironic part was that the right wing was a brilliant downy white, and the left wing was jet black. "Oh, my God... isn't this going a little overboard?!"

"Not at all, especially considering we were overpaid," Richard chuckled, rubbing his neck. "Well, since you're ready, we might as well let the others know."

Before she could respond, the doors burst open and a little blonde girl wearing too much make-up ran into the room.

"SAEL-CHAN, LOOK AT ME!" Honey squealed, running into the room and twirling around with a laugh. "I'm wearing a dress! I get to be Goldilocks for the Switcher party! Oh, but we gotta hurry, or we'll late! So, are you done getting dressed in your Hallowe…"

The boy trailed off and he stared at Saelind with huge eyes when she turned to look at him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm done," Saelind mumbled, awkwardly rubbing her arms. "I think I'm ready to go…"

"Saelind..." Honey whispered, mouth still hanging open in awe. "You look..."

"No time, no time," Richard chuckled, shooing Saelind past the blonde boy and pushing her towards the door. "Let's get going! I don't want you being late."

"I got it, I got it," Saelind growled, shaking her head and jogging down the hall. "No need to push."

However, when she left, Honey followed her with his eyes.

"Beautiful," he sadly finished, finally turning and staring at the floor.


	37. Chapter 36: Cinderella, dressed in -

**Author's Note: **Got permission from Saelind to take a higher quality photo of her. The new cover is higher def, so you can actually see her face in all it's beauty. Plus, it's waaay more recent than the old cover, trust me. Anyway, enjoy the beauty of my best friend, because with scars or without, I can only see her as a scary little angel.

...

**Ps Sidenote:** Don't kill me, Saelind.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Cinderella, Dressed in...**

The stunning colors and loud music overwhelmed Saelind's mind more than anything else.

In all honesty, the Switcher dance was more like a modern day rave than the classical tea-party she'd been expecting from the school.

However, she was currently hiding behind the enormous plush bleachers in the gymnasium with her brother: the Host Club was looking for her, since countless boys and girls who'd switched genders for the dance had already gone up for their own little Karaoke practices. Horribly enough, there would even be a beauty competition for all the dolled-up costume-wearing boys to take part in, and the girls had to put in a vote which cross-dressed Halloween performer they liked the best.

Be it for their authenticity for their looks, their choice in costume, or simply for the talent they'd chosen to perform for the school.

Ironically enough, though, Saelvan he looked exactly like he was supposed to.

He made quite the dashing vampire, what with his Count Dracula costume almost perfectly going along with his appearance.

Hell, even the boy's fangs made him look awesome for a change.

Speaking of little old Vanny, though, the boy was currently poking her with a gawking expression on his face.

"Saelind, is this really you?" he demanded, poking her from every direction. "It can't be. You've gotta be her doppelganger. My sister is pretty, but not like this."

"Excuse me?" the girl hissed, lifting a fist and glaring as a vein popped out on her forehead. "Wanna repeat that before or _after_ I give you a few busted teeth?"

"You wouldn't do it," Vanny wonderingly stated, giving her such a wide-eyed stare that she scowled. "After all, you love me too much. Right?"

"Don't tempt me," the girl grumbled, letting out a huff before she stared at the floor. "Honestly, though... I don't know how to feel about any of this. Sure, I look beautiful, but what exactly am I supposed to be doing?"

"Are you dense?" her brother snorted, ignoring the glare she sent his way. "Lindy, this is a party. Go out and have fun! Lord knows you'd be less of a sour puss if you understood what that actually meant, but seriously, just go out and mingle. Feel good about all the people who will definitely start _gawking_ over you."

"Ugh, but how? How am I supposed to do this?" Saelind muttered, clenching her fists with an awkward blush: she couldn't find a single word that actively expressed her emotions, but somehow, she had realized something terrible after arriving at the party. Something she was sure would carry over into the future. "Just because my face looks like it did before the fire... it doesn't mean that the people around me have changed, Vanny! My socially inept mindset hasn't just disappeared!"

"What are you saying?" he asked, looking at her with a stunned expression. "Are you literally going to just sit here and let your one night of being beautiful inside AND out go to complete waste? Why would you do something so stupid?"

Saelind didn't respond: she sat there, crouched in the corner with her chin buried in her knees, suddenly wanting nothing more than to go hide somewhere.

This was something she'd suspected she'd had trouble with ever since Kyouya had made his offer: after all, her face may have changed, but everything inside her was still there... all of the unhappiness, the memories, the trauma...

The pain.

The sadness.

Even everything _outside_ of her head was the same... people were untrustworthy.

Her scars being gone simply made it easier for them to use her.

Then again... it was only temporary, right?

Could she push past her trust issues, if only for a night?

In the long run, she'd probably have to: if the Host Club seriously planned to sponsor a surgery to get rid of her scars, this could pass off as a test.

Plus, no matter how she thought about it, it wasn't as though one night of bliss would allow an opening for someone to use her more than they already had.

"Fine," the girl finally muttered, shaking her head in defeat. "However, I'm not going out until it's time for the show."

"Eh?" Saelvan asked, blinking in surprise. "Why not?"

"I need time... to prepare myself," the girl explained, giving him a pained expression. "As weird as this is gonna sound... I'm scared, Vanny. And to mask that fear, I'm going to need some alone time beforehand. Especially since I've already been roped into showing the whole school some random talent as _well_ as an act."

"You mean you aren't singing?" her brother snorted, staring at her with a frown. "Sis, just pick a song at random and sing the damn thing. Not like it matters: your voice is so enchanting that even the _birds_ sometimes stop and listen to it."

"Well, well, well," the girl sarcastically drawled, albeit her ears did turn bright red. "I never would have expected _you_ to try ass-kissing."

"Lindy," Vanny snorted in amusement, rolling his eyes, "I'm not saying that your voice is pretty because I'm hoping you'll soften up: you'll soften up regardless since you've got no choice, but so what? I wasn't kidding about what I just said… I'm just telling you what I remember."

Upon hearing that, Saelind quietly stood up and dusted her backside off.

"Well, then," she sighed, giving him a half-lidded expression, "since you want me to go and 'mingle' that's exactly what I'll do. Provided you give my left side a massage later on and make dinner for both us today, tomorrow, _and_ the day after."

"It's a deal!" the boy exclaimed, grinning brightly in delight. "Go get 'em, Sis!_"_

Saelind rolled her eyes, but just as she turned around and planned to walk out into the open, she bumped clean into Kyouya... er, wait.. who was this?

She could have sworn it was him by the scent of _evil _wafting into her nose, but apparently... oh, nope.

It was definitely him.

However, his current attire raised more questions than it solved.

After blinking twice and doing a double take, the girl stared at Kyouya with large eyes and started sniggering violently.

"What the hell is up with your hair?" she inquired, staring at the huge, ridiculously curly blonde Pigtails sticking out of his head. "Who are you dressed as?"

"Oh, so you don't know?" the Shadow King inquired, looking down at his hairy legs in distaste. "Well, that makes two of us. Tamaki picked it out."

"And what a wonderful costume it is!" a familiar bright voice crooned, making Saelind sigh; when the princely prince himself swirled over in a yellow ballgown with his blonde hair draped over one shoulder, the girl stared at him since he was literally dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. "I knew dressing you up as Mami Tomoe from Madoka Magicka would turn out wonderful! So, _Daddy, _who are you talking to? I overhear...d..."

Tamaki's indigo eyes went blank when he beheld the raven-haired girl standing in front of Kyouya; when he leaned down and ogled her with large eyes, she leaned back.

"What's wrong with you?" the girl demanded, tilting body even farther back when his face zoomed in on her. "Get away from me, ya creep!"

"Now this is interesting," the blonde boy murmured, walking around her like the Hitachiin twins were partial to. "You make a disturbingly beautiful girl, Vanny-kun."

Saelind's face flamed bright red and she clenched her fists in outrage.

"Um, hello?!" she snapped, making him jump back with a start thanks to the hostility. "You've got the wrong twin, you blonde-haired dope! I am, in fact, a girl!"

"Eh?!" Tamaki gasped, eyes popping open wide. "Saelind, is that you?!"

"Duh," the girl retorted, angrily clenching her fists before she jabbed him with a finger, "and next time, refrain from calling my brother Vanny. That's between ME and HIM!"

With a huff, she stormed off, trying her best to hide her anxiety: once she was out of sight, however, she touched her face with stunned eyes.

Someone had mistaken her to be her brother... and that hadn't happened in years.

However, her good mood was darkened when Ami Kikiroshi and Seika Ayanokoji spotted her and came bouncing over. Seika was strutting toward her almost arrogantly in a prince costume, and Ami was dressed as a pauper: she had her trademark innocent expression plastered across her face, and she looked for all the world like a giggle airhead who wouldn't hurt a fly, but that's what made it so awful. Saelind tasted bile when the girls stopped in front of her and whispered something before giggling to themselves.

"Excuse me, but what do you want?" Saelind demanded with a frown. "I'm trying to enjoy myself, here."

Seika made a great show of eyeing her angel costume; then she made an annoying clucking sound and shook her head.

"Well, well, how sad," Seika stated sweetly, making an extremely sympathetic expression, "it looks like Saelind's sister didn't get the memo that this was a cross-dressing costume party. It's such a shame... it looks so good on you, too. You should go change. You're making a fool of yourself and your family name."

Saelind blinked, taking immediate offense... but then she realized the irony and her mouth twitched into a devilish grin.

After a moment, she let out an old lady cackle, which startled the two girls standing in front of her.

"You honestly think I'm Saelvan?" she asked, folding her arms with a smirk; the wings on her back fluttered in an almost coy manner when she sashayed forward and drew her finger across the side of the redhead's cheek; her eyes instantly widened and she gawked, horrified. "Honey, I've already said this twice: you've got the wrong twin."

"W-what are you saying?" the girl nervously chuckled, jerking away from her with large eyes. "There's no way... right?"

"Wrong," Saelind purred, then tapped her left eye and tilted her head back. "Look here: I'm blind in this eye. There's your giveaway."

"Whoa," Ami whispered, staring at her with a pale face. "They really got you the surgery..."

"No," Saelind muttered, instantly glaring at her for daring to speak out loud about anything related to her life. "Kyouya hired a famous cosmetician from America."

"What's this about a surgery?" Ayanokoji scoffed, raising an imperious eyebrow. "Please tell me you're joking. You're the son of a Grand Duke, and you're taking _charity_?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response," Saelind growled, shackles rising almost immediately, "but I'll have you know, I'm working for it. And I fully intend to pay it off once it happens. I'm simply curious to see whether or not the people in this Host Club are all talk and no game."

All right, it was a bluff, but hey... it worked.

Well, at least on Ayanokoji: she seemed miffed and daintily walked off with her nose in the air, but Ami...

Well, she was giving her the evil-eye.

"You and I both know that lying is something that everybody hates," she stated sweetly, giving her a smirk. "I just didn't think you'd do it."

"Sorry, but I'm nothing like you," Saelind stated in a bitter tone, cocking her hip with a sour expression. "And I didn't lie. If these idiots really do go through with what they said they would, I have every intention of forcing my mother to pay them back. Not like it'll be any skin off the riches my family already has."

"See? That right there is why I hate you so much," Ami sneered, making the girl wince. "You're cocky, arrogant, and you think you're better than everyone else."

"Hey, you're absolutely right: to put it bluntly, I'm a bitch, and that's how it's going to remain," Saelind countered, giving her a glare. "I'm content with who I am: that's why I don't have to hide my true colors. Unlike some people."

"Oh, but we both know what your true colors really are, so don't even try it," Ami giggled sweetly, then leaned close and whispered, "little miss wolf girl."

Saelind clenched her fists as tears stung her eyes, but then she closed them and took a deep breath... and her hand relaxed.

Then she opened her eyes and grinned so widely that her fangs and pearly white teeth were on full display.

"Honey," Saelind hissed, giving her Ami an even bigger smile when her face drained of color, "you don't want to go there. If you've really seen people work with wolves, you'd most definitely know how dangerous they are. Most people have to tie them down just to take care of them. Me? I fought them. And won. Trust me, you don't want to see me act like a wolf, because if you do, my teeth will be in your throat. Now run along and have a Happy Halloween, you conceited bitch. _Do Svidaniya._"

When Saelind tossed her hair and turned to walk away, Ami roughly grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her around, halting her instantly.

"Did you just threaten me?!" she spat, cutesy act going straight out the window. "Did you really just threaten me?! Who do you think you are?!"

"Remove your hand," Saelind growled, pupil contracting and baring her fangs; her eyes were dangerously cold. "I already know my place in life, and it doesn't include squabbling with a two-faced whore who can't even show people what she's really like thanks to how disgusting her personality is."

Ami's eyes suddenly changed in a way that Saelind didn't like: the urge to bite her literally spiked up five times higher than it should have.

"You're right, Saelind... I do have a disgusting personality," Kikiroshi hissed, bringing her face close so quickly that Saelind actually clenched her jaw to prevent herself from snapping at her. "But you want to know what? I can hide my ugliness. You can't. And that's exactly why you shouldn't feel superior to me… even for a second!"

"Remove... your... hand..." Saelind warned, giving her a dangerous expression. "If you don't... I will bite you. HARD."

Right around the moment that the air was about to ignite with a heated fight, Honey popped over and looked at the two of them with large eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked, tilting his head to the side with a curious expression. "Are you rehearsing your act?"

Ami's facade roared back into place and she giggled, patting his head; she slowly let go of Saelind's wrist, revealing a red mark in the shape of a hand.

"Of course we are," she trilled, covering her cheeks in delight. "Sael-chan was just helping me with my lines, that's all... Seika and I are doing a mini-play!"

"Oooh!" Honey exclaimed, clapping in delight. "That sounds cool!"

"Yeah, well, thanks," Ami giggled, giving him a smile. "Well, I've gotta go get ready, and I heard there's some really good food over on the eighth table. Later, _Sael-kun._"

She didn't even bother to hide the sarcasm at the last part, but hey, at least she stalked off before Saelind could wring her neck.

"Thank you," Saelind grumbled, patting her stomach with a scowl. "I never thought I'd say this, but you kinda saved me there, Honey."

"Did something happen?" he asked, giving her his trademark puppy eyes. "I thought you and Ami-chan were friends."

"Not anymore," the girl stated coldly, staring at the floor with a blank expression. "We had a bit of a falling out."

"Oh, wow... Saelind?!" a familiar voice squeaked, making the girl glance up; she was startled to see Haruhi jogging up, but the big winner was the fact that her hair had been pulled into pigtails, and she was wearing a pink dress with a little handbag. "Jeez, you look totally hot! No wonder it took hours for you to get ready..."

"What are you supposed to be?" Saelind snorted, ignoring the compliment. "Aside from oddly girlish, I mean."

"I'm a pop music singer," Haruhi sighed, then looked at her costume with a dismayed expression, "although, I kinda just look like a regular girl."

"No lie there," the Russian sighed, shaking her head. "You really do."

"Hey, Sael-chan, can I talk to you for a moment?" Honey asked, giving her a smile. "I kinda wanted to know if you would dance with me."

"Sorry, kiddo, but I don't dance..." she muttered, giving him a frown before turning and walking away. "Why not ask Haruhi? I'm sure she'd enjoy it."

"Eh?! But..." Honey tried to protest, holding out a hand; however, after a moment, he dropped his arm and lowered his eyes, all smiles gone. "If you say so..."

In truth, Saelind was starting to get a headache.

After the anger Ami had ignited and the last three people who had gotten up on stage, it was borderline migraine-material: even worse, the fourth person to sing was so tone-deaf that she wanted to check her wine glass for cracks. After receiving several more compliments from the attendees, she decided to sit for a while and scanned the crowd, completely ignoring Mori when he walked over and sat down across from her. She'd seen him earlier, but the ironic part about his costume was that it passed off as a girl's while not looking girly.

He was dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, but with a badass crimson cloak that did a good job of covering up the skimpy yellow dress he was wearing beneath it. In the distance, she noticed Tamaki flirting with a large group of cross-dressing girls, making them scream "Kyaa!" and blush madly. To her right, she saw a number of Host Club Attendees swarming the Hitachiin twins, who were dressed up as purple Cheshire girls, and far off to her left she saw Kyouya scanning the crowd like a sentinel.

Looking utterly ridiculous, but not giving a shit either way.

Typical.

However, when a new song came over the speakers, for the first time in a long while, Mori looked directly at her.

And opened his mouth.

"Would you like to dance?" he quietly inquired.

Saelind jumped and stared at him in alarm.

"Um, no..." she retorted flatly, shaking her head. "I don't dance, and plus, you're like King Kong compared to me."

However, when he smirked, she immediately noticed that something was different about his eyes... they were glazed over.

Her heart leapt up her throat when Takeshi Morinozuka stood up and walked around the table with slow, precise movements.

"I won't take no for an answer," he stated firmly, gripping her wrist and roughly pulling the girl to her feet; slipping his hand against the small of her back and leaning close to her with that devilish smirk, he all but purred, "dance with me."

"M-Mori…san?" Saelind whispered, eyes becoming blank as an inexplicable shiver went through her body; the girl continued to shiver when he pulled her out onto the dance floor, but when his hand slid up her side to her shoulder, she froze like marble and squeaked, "b-but I don't know how to dance!"

"Follow my lead, then," Mori whispered, giving her such a wolfish smile that her heart once again leapt up her throat... and not in a good way, either; however, she was actively outraged when he literally spun and swept her off the ground in the process, twirling her in the air with that same devilish smile. However, once he set her down, she was standing on his enormous shoes and she blinked when he started dancing. "See...? It's easy. You're dancing."

"W-w-w-what the heck has gotten into you?" Saelind hissed, staring up at him with huge aquamarine eyes. "Are you a moron?! Just let me go!"

"Never," he purred, bouncing her off his feet and twirling her around like a top; the girl whimpered when the room spun in a dizzying manner, but then she was back on his shoes. Didn't mean her eyes weren't still swirling around though. "Until the finish, we will dance."

"You're scaring me," Saelind stated firmly, making him look at her; she was being dead serious... her face was bone white. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I want to," he stoically replied, quirking an eyebrow; however, his eyes were still glazed, and that unfamiliar smirk really made her gut feel uneasy. "Haven't you ever wondered why I was dubbed the Wild one of the host club?"

"Eh?" Saelind whispered, eyes going blank as she thought about it; she didn't want to admit it, especially to herself, but he had a good point. He was actually the quietest and gentlest person in the Host Club based on what little she'd seen of him. Ever since that day at the hospital, she'd totally ignored his stares, so she hadn't really ever taken some time to think about why he'd been dubbed the 'wild type.' "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," Mori stated fiercely, pulling her up against him with a smirk, "that I'm an animal. And I take what I want."

Saelind's heart nearly stopped when he chuckled, because it was only then that she smelled the alcohol on his breath.

"Oh, my God..." she snorted, staring at him in shock. "Are you... _drunk?!"_

"Am I?" he asked, swaying a little even as he asked. "I don't think so."

"Uh-huh," Saelind muttered, nodding twice before she stomped on his foot and made a beeline towards Kyouya, who quirked an eyebrow when she halted in front of him. "You, buster, have some explaining to do."

"Do I, now?" he inquired, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Mori is drunk, and he's acting all weird," the girl retorted; she got a case of the shivers and her shoulders locked up when she heard the air fill up behind her, and when she turned her head, surely enough... there the oaf was. "See what I mean? He's..."

"Dance with me," the giant chuckled, gripping her shoulder and spinning her around. "Come now, Saelind."

Even Kyouya blinked when he said her name without an honorific, and for a moment, he looked puzzled.

"Odd," he stated, getting up and walking over to the tottering giant. "I've never seen him act this way before. And I'll have you know, I would never serve alcoholic drinks at a school festivity. Not even high quality wines for the adults."

"Then why the hell does his breath smell like alcohol?" the girl grumbled, not even noticing that a certain blond was watching them from across the room. "Seriously!"

"I don't know," Kyouya sighed, then nodded twice, "but we can't have him wandering around if he's inebriated. Mori-san, please come with me."

Blinking, the boy glanced at Saelind with his usual stoic expression before he tottered after the hairy, wannabe magical girl.

Then, feeling disgruntled, Saelind returned to the table and waited for the actual festivity to start.

Her night of bliss was starting to feel more like a big failure.


	38. Chapter 37: A Life Divided

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Life Divided**

Saelind was starting to get a headache.

After Mori had been taken away, Haruhi had pulled her off the dance floor before she could attempt to 'mingle' with everyone like her brother had wanted. She'd been forced backstage to wait with all the other contestants for the Switcher Party talent show. However, during the ordeal of sitting backstage, her migraine had begun to form. Mostly because the last three people who had been called up on stage had been so talent-less that she'd wanted to hide under a rock.

Even worse, she was currently stuck sitting between the Hitachiin twins, and both of them kept nudging her and continuously asked her this and that in ridiculously girlish lady-boy voices. It was pissing her off to no end, and the fact that they KNEW as much and STILL continued doing it irritated her. However, throughout the entire ordeal with the gingers, she had noticed that Honey was sitting directly across from her. And for some weird reason that she couldn't seem to figure out, he was sulking and shooting unhappy expressions at her. So, after the twins were called onto the stage, the Russian girl turned and gave the blonde boy a highly puzzled look.

"You know, normally I wouldn't bother asking, but this has been going on for a while now," she sighed, shaking her head, "so... what's wrong, Honey?"

"You didn't want to dance with me," the blonde boy grumbled, looking at her with a pout, "but you danced with Takeshi. Do you hate me, Sael-chan?"

The girl quirked an eyebrow and gave him a half-lidded stare.

"Of course I hate you. In fact, for the most part, I hate everyone... just, some less than others," Saelind scoffed, rolling her eyes and pointedly ignoring how the blonde's eyes clouded over in confusion. "And I meant what I said: If Mr. Tall, Dark, and Crazy hadn't forced me out there against my will, I wouldn't have set foot on that dance floor. I didn't really have a choice. I told him no, and he pulled me out there."

"Really?" Honey asked, giving her a strange look. "Takeshi wouldn't do something like that."

"Well, he did," the girl grumbled, sourly folding her arms before she stiffened and turned bright red when she remembered the change in his attitude. "Creep. He had to have been drunk or something... I swear, I wasn't kidding when I said I smelled alcohol on his breath."

"What do you mean by alcohol...?" the blonde asked, staring at her blankly. "Takeshi can't drink because he's..."

Before he could finish the sentence, he stiffened like a washboard and his face sharpened in a way that Saelind wasn't used to seeing.

Or even Haruhi, for that matter, since she had just started making her way over when his expression changed.

Setting Usa-chan down and leaping to his feet, the blonde boy tore past a group of waiting contestants and ran out of the room, leaving behind a blinking girl who had no idea what to think. After a moment, Saelind shrugged and turned slightly in her seat to stare at the stage. After seeing a flash of red hair spinning around, however, the girl blinked in surprise: the twins were dancing across the floor with each other in a beautiful form of ballet, which was wowing everyone around them.

"Figures," Saelind sighed, wondering if her measly songs would be able to even get a passing grade. "They know ballet."

"They're actually quite the dancers," Tamaki explained, pausing for a second as he looked at the stage; suddenly he turned to look at Haruhi, eyes bright. "Speaking of which... Haruhi, will you dance with me tonight?"

"Of course, Sempai," the girl confirmed, giving him one of her charming smiles. "Why wouldn't I?"

Tamaki's eyes widened and his face flamed bright red.

"W-well, then," he stammered, getting to his feet and patting his cheeks. "I... I need to use the... powder room."

When he tottered off, Haruhi sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, senpai," she murmured, shaking her head.

Unfortunately, immediately after that, the twins bowed and walked off the stage as wild applause filled the air.

Saelind heard someone announcing the next person to go, and she let out a sigh of dismay.

"How am I supposed to do this?" she muttered, shaking her head in dismay. "Am I just supposed to make a song up and sing it? Or can I pick one?"

Truthfully, she didn't really want to sing, especially in front of so many people.

Aside from her athleticism and smarts, she really didn't have any talents aside from singing and cooking.

And since cooking couldn't help her in this situation, she could only count on singing to be the one route that _wouldn't_ lead to an embarrassing failure. After a moment, Saelind glanced up and stared at the clock in dismay: she only had half an hour left to think of a song, and she hadn't even manage to think of one good one. The whole dance had been spent like this… she couldn't think of a song that fit her personality, emotions, _or _even represented how she felt. Her brother could obviously tell how unnerved she was when he came over, because the first question out of his mouth when he sat down was the one she was dreading.

"Lindy, did you find a song yet…?" Saelvan asked, giving her a pointed expression. "I really hope you did. Apparently, there are a lot of girls who are looking forward to seeing your costume and witnessing your talent."

"Jerk, you already know I haven't found a song," Saelind snapped, angrily burying her face in her hands. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do!"

"When in doubt," the boy murmured, touching her shoulder until she glanced up at him, "use a memory to fuel your talent for creating lyrics. Or just sing the first song that comes to mind, okay? It doesn't have to be perfect... it could be completely random. Just sing whatever comes to mind, and put your heart into it. You're going on last, so you'll have to do your best. Don't become least."

With that, he walked away and Saelind closed her eyes, feeling her heart pounding rapidly: the event was being held on a stage. She was going to be singing in front of everybody… every person who had ever called her ugly, and every person who had seen her in the Host club, She would be in the one place she hated the most... the spotlight. The girl shivered as a breeze swept through the backstage area, feeling tendrils of her long hair billowing in the soothing wind.

Wait...

Wind...?

Saelind's eyes snapped open in surprise.

_There shouldn't be a breeze in here,_ she realized, looking around with a blink. _There are no windows, and the only door I can see is shut tight._

Shivering slightly, the girl looked around a little longer, ignoring everyone chatting nearby.

It wasn't until she saw the shadow in the corner that everything around her fell silent: she froze, hair standing on end when the dark blob became clear and she saw tendrils of long black hair. She tilted her head to the side, staring at the figure with a startled teal eye as it stood there... unmoving. It was obviously a girl... that much she could tell, since the figure was wearing a dress with bits of pink on the front.

However, the apparition was oddly flat and colorless.

"What the fuck?" the girl whispered, closing her eyes and rubbing them. "I'm seeing things again... ugh."

After counting to ten, Saelind hesitantly opened her eyes and glanced around only to find that the creepy figure had vanished.

"Are you all right, Saelind?" Haruhi asked, glancing away from Tamaki's performance with an air of concern. "You're white as a sheet."

"I'm fine," the girl grunted, giving her a glare. "Don't worry so much, you weirdo."

Haruhi rolled her eyes and shrugged, but she let it go. Time and time again, Saelind heard wild applause and cheering coming from the crowd, and each time the announcements drew her closer to the event that was terrifying her. Finally, after a particularly loud applause for a comedy skit created by a boy in her very own class, Saelvan's name was called. Saelind watched her twin with a curious eye when he walked out and took his place in front of the microphone.

Then he lifted a hand, ran it through his long hair, and tossed his tresses outwards in a feminine manner.

"Hello, everyone," he called, smiling when several people cheered. "Tonight, I want to tell you all a story. It's more of a poem, really, and it's about someone I'm very, very close to. I hope you enjoy it."

"Go for it, Van-chan!" a girl squealed from somewhere in the back. "Good luck!"

"He was twelve years old and surrounded by people who used to say that rhyme about sticks and stones," Saelvan softly began, voice echoing throughout the room. "As if broken bones hurt more than the names he got called. And he got called them all. So he grew up believing no one would ever fall in love with him, that he'd be lonely forever, that he'd never meet someone to make him feel like the sun was something they built for him in their tool shed."

Saelind slowly tensed and stared at her brother in disbelief, because the litany he was reciting was definitely centered around her history.

"What are you doing, idiot?" she hissed, smacking a hand against her forehead. "I'm gonna kick the shit out of you later."

"Broken heart strings bled the blues as he tried to empty himself, so he would feel nothing," Saelvan continued, voice beginning to fill with passion. "Don't tell me that it hurts less than a broken bone! That an ingrown life is something surgeons can cut away! That there's no way for it to metastasize! To this day, he is a stick on TNT lit from both ends! He could describe to you in detail the way the sky bends in the moments before it's about to fall! And despite an army of friends who all called him an inspiration, he was a conversation piece between people who didn't understand."

"This is so sad..." a girl whispered. "Who do you think it's about?"

"I don't know, but it's so poetic," her friend whispered back. "If Saelvan were a boy, I'd totally date her."

"Sometimes," the Russian boy murmured, closing his eyes when everyone focused on him again, "becoming cold has less to do with trust and more to do with sanity. But I want to tell him, that all of this shit is just debris... leftover when he finally decided to smash all the things he thought he used to be. And if you can't see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror. Look a little closer. Stare a little longer. Because there's something inside you that made you keep trying despite everyone who told you to quit."

By this point, there were girls in the audience with their hands clutched together and tears in their eyes.

The boy was speaking with passion in his eyes, voice loud and clear.

"You built a cast around your broken heart, and signed it yourself," he proudly exclaimed, beating his chest before he made a show of wincing. "You signed it, 'they were wrong' because maybe you didn't belong to a group or a clique. Maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything. Maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth to show and tell, but never told. Because how can you hold your ground if everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it?"

_Why is he doing this to me?_ Saelind wondered blankly, staring at her brother as the world turned hazy. _I don't want to remember all of this._

"You have to believe that they were wrong..." he continued, turning his head and looking straight at her. "They have to be wrong. Why else would you still be here? I grew up learning to cheer on the underdog, because I see myself in him. We are graduating members from the class of '_fuck off! we made it_', not the faded echoes of voices crying out _'names will never hurt me'_. Of course they did. They hurt a lot."

"Stop it..." Saelind muttered, mouth tightening when her brother's gaze sharpened. "End it right there."

"But his life will only ever always continue to be a balancing act that has less to do with pain," he quietly finished, "and more to do with the beauty within."

Silence reigned free for a long time.

Then people started cheering wildly, and the person running the show came out.

"That was a wonderful performance!" he cheered, clapping as he took the microphone. "You've earned my vote!"

Saelind took that opportunity to stand up since the time had come: she was irritated now, but she was as ready as she could possibly be.

"And last, but definitely not least, is the mysterious transfer student from class 2-A," the announcer called loudly, eliciting a very surprised cheer. "Give a round of applause for this mystery beauty, Saelind Heseroph!"

Closing her eyes, Saelind slowly took a breath and tried to calm herself: everything inside her fell silent and she slipped into a daze. Then, after shooting a glance at Saelvan and Haruhi, the dark-haired girl slowly stepped out from behind the curtain and made her way forward. The cheers turned to gasps of surprise and squeals of total shock. Slowly stepping forward towards the microphone, the girl took it with a shaking hand and looked at the excited faces of the crowd

"I'm not very good at things like this," she stated in a detached voice, normal eye glazed over. "I really don't have many talents, but... well. Yeah. Enjoy, I guess."

So saying, she scoured her mind for a memory... and all of a sudden, she was hit with inspiration.

Thus, after unhooking the microphone, Saelind tossed her hair and stepped back, clutching the mic with both hands.

Then she opened her mouth... took a deep breath... and began to sing.

"_I lie awake, got lost in time... "_ she trilled, vibrato filling the room with such a high, sweet tenor that mouths fell open everywhere, "_I dream away so I can fly._"

Salvan stood on the sidelines, tears filling his eyes simply because the sound of her voice was once again filling the air.

"So beautiful," he whispered, shaking his head... then he jumped in realization and ran over to the bag carrying his female clothes. "Oh, thank God! I can help!"

After digging around, he frantically pulled out an electric violin as well as an amp plug and hurried out onto the stage behind his sister with an air of grace fit for a king. Plugging his instrument into the speaker system that had been hooked up, he added a harmonious back-melody to his sister's song. Eyes widened all around when the twins really started getting into what they were doing.

_"There are stones on my legs... I can't move aside!"_ Saelind belted out, staring out at something only she could see. "_I've got a rock on my chest... so heavy in mind! It feels like I was dead... but I'm alive!"_

_"And I feel!"_ Saelvan belted out.

_"The world is closing, but I love the good news,"_ Saelind harmoniously clashed, striking against his voice and violin.

_"And I feel!"_ the boy repeated.

_"Time is running out,"_ the girl trilled, stomping her foot in time with the beat, _"but I'm still in touch with you..."_

People started clapping in time with her tempo, and tense excitement began to charge the air like a thunderstorm as they waited for the girl to explode with her build-up.

Then, taking an enormous breath, the Heseroph twins belted out a gorgeous harmony.

_"I wanna feel the sea!"_ the duo sang, creating a gorgeous vibration that filled the hall in perfect synchronicity. "_I wanna the love inside of me! I wanna feel the breeze!"_

_"Drown in your beautiful waves!"_ Saelvan belted out. _"Oh, let me drown in your sea!"_

Once he finished, Saelind closed her eyes and started singing solo again.

"_I watch the dust covering me... locked in a shell, I can't break free," _she trilled, swaying back and forth._ "Like a bird in a trap, willing to fly, I can't get up and away... from the storm in my mind. This must be the last day of my life!"_

Several girls in the audience got goosebumps when her voice echoed in a haunting manner on the last word.

"_And I feel!"_ Saelvan howled.

"_The world is closing, but I love the good news,"_ Saelind clashed, drawing out her brother's intervention.

_"And I feel!"_ the boy cried a gain.

"_My time is running out, but I'm still in touch with you... "_ the girl trilled, then arched her back and belted, _"__I wanna feel the sea! I wanna the love inside of me! __I wanna feel the breeze!"_

"_Drown in your beautiful waves!"_ Saelvan sang, baton flying across his instrument, "_o__h, let me drown in your sea..._"

When her brother went to work on his violin, Saelind flexed her muscles and arched her back, flinging her arms out only and forcing the animatronic wings to spread themselves wide. What she wasn't expecting, however, was for a cloud of sparkles to go flying from the feathers as the false appendages extended and flared outwards: she looked at the crowd with intense eyes when she opened her mouth again.

"_I can live, I can die, __I keep hanging on a lie!_" Saelind sang clearly, closing her frigid teal eyes. "_I can move, I can fly: w__ith you everything's alright! I keep floating around through my head for all my life! I wanna feel the sea! I wanna feel the love inside of me! I wanna feel the breeze! Drown in your beautiful waves... oh, let me drown in your sea!_"

"_T__here are stones on my legs... I can't move aside!_" Saelvan belted out, swaying back and forth as he played his violin. "_I've got a rock on my chest... so heavy in mind! It feels like I was dead but I'm alive. And I feel,,, the world is closing but I'm not takin' off... and I feel that time is running out but I'm still in touch with you! I wanna feel the sea! I wanna the love inside of me! I wanna feel the breeze!"_

"_Drown in your beautiful waves..._" Saelind sang softly, bringing the song to a close, "_o__h, let me drown in your sea..._"

For several moments, nothing but total silence reigned free… but then… clapping… and weeping… and wailed excitement filled the air.

The applause created an uproar so loud that it forced everyone backstage to cover their ears.

And suddenly, everything around her dissolved and melted away.

"Let's give a big round of applause for Saelind Heseroph!" the boy in charge of the speakerphone exclaimed. "However, now is the time you've all been waiting for... that's right! You can now come up and smack some buttons to vote on who you think the Drag Queen of the Halloween Switcher Party should be!"

Saelind twitched and hastily backed away when the crowd excitedly shuffled forward, but after a moment she glanced at her brother and sighed, giving him a soft look of appreciation for the help he'd given her. After returning to the backstage area, however, she was unexpectedly swarmed by the members of the Host Club.

"That was awesome!" Haruhi stated firmly, giving her a broad smile. "I loved your performance! I wish I'd had a camera, because it really was impressive!"

"Yeah," the Hitachiin twins simultaneously stated. "It was really good."

"Where on earth did you learn how to play the violin so well, Sael-kun?" Tamaki asked, curiously eyeing the electronic instrument. "I must admit, I'm impressed."

"I was taught by a music teacher, where else?" the boy murmured, timidly sidling over to his sister. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Thanks a lot for the praise," Saelind sarcastically drawled, actually feeling somewhat giddy as she turned away from the Host Club. "Anyway, since I'm sure I didn't win, I need to get some fresh air. Thanks for the opportunity you all gave me... much as I don't want to admit it, I had fun for once."

"The pleasure was all ours," Kyouya said, giving her a small smirk when the others grinned. "You've earned a break."

Saelind gave him a less intense glare than usual before walking away and moving out into the dance room's courtyard.

Her shoes clicked against the cobblestone walkway and the breeze cooled her heated skin as she stared at the sky. It had been a very long time since she'd sang in front of a crowd like that. Back in elementary school, at least... but still, as weird as it was, it had fun experiencing the art of music for the first time in years. Although, her night of being a normal, somewhat pretty girl was going to come to an end soon... but as weird as it was, the knowledge of that was almost... relieving.

"Sometimes I don't get myself," she murmured aloud, lifting her gaze to the sky. "Still... everything that happened to us was... nice. And the sky is beautiful tonight."

It was true: the heavens were littered with silver stars and a bright full moon, and there wasn't even a single cloud to mar the sight.

Saelind grinned, feeling oddly giddy: she didn't know why, but she simply felt alive.

Humming quietly to herself, the raven-haired girl walked up to a fountain and sat down on its edge before gently running her right hand through the water.

The liquid felt pleasantly cool against her fingertips.

Slowly tilting her head back, Saelind stared at the moon, watching it with one eye as a breeze swept through her hair from behind.

Eye glazed and mind still somewhat detached, the girl began to sing quietly, feeling a little unhappy.

"Like a bird in a trap, willing to fly, I can't get up and away... from the storm in my mind," she hummed, closing her eyes with a sigh. "I wanna feel the breeze... I wanna feel the love inside of me... I wanna feel the sea. Drown in your beautiful waves... oh, let me drown in your sea."

Steps in the distance caught her attention, making her snap her mouth shut.

Upon lifting her gaze, her teal eyes met a pair of brown ones, but her heart turned cold with anger when she realized who she was looking at.

Ami.

The Asian brunette stared at her just as she was doing—but unlike Saelind's blank, expressionless face, her own expression was irritated and full of frustration.

When her former friend continued to stare at her with hostility, the Russian finally snapped.

"Why the hell are you glaring at me?" Saelind growled, cocking an eyebrow. "Better yet, why are you out here? Can't I even go an hour without you bothering me?"

Ami stood still as a statue, shaking with anger.

"You _monster,"_ the brunette spat, stomping forward with an enraged expression and leaning close to Saelind's face. "How DARE you sing that song?!"

Saelind's right eye twitched before her gaze sharpened dangerously.

"Excuse me?" Saelind retorted, getting to her feet with a snarl. "I swear to god, if you keep calling me a monster, I won't take responsibility for what I do to you. I'm not a monster, so back the fuck off! You have no right to talk to me, Kikiroshi, so go away."

"No! This time, _you're_ the one who's in the wrong!" Ami shrieked, face turning bright red. "That was my mother's favorite song, and you KNEW that!"

"So?" Saelind deadpanned, cocking her hip with a 'wtf' expression. "Even if it was her favorite song, that's no reason to go psycho."

"I hate you," Ami hissed, not even realizing that Haruhi had just come outside. "I hate everything about you! Your personality, your attitude, and most of all, those disgusting scars! You're a freak, Saelind! What, did you really think that having one night to hide those revolting deformities on your face really changed how ugly you are? Bitch, please... trash will always be trash, even if you wash it with water and soap or make it look pretty. That won't ever change."

"Why hello, Pot!" Saelind stated in an overly kind voice, giving the girl a venomous expression, "I'm Kettle! Thank you for being a hypocrite by calling me black!"

"SHUT UP!" Ami screeched, stomping forward and shoving the smaller girl with all of her strength; Saelind threw her hands back for something, anything to catch her balance... but there was nothing to be found. The black-haired girl gasped and flailed her arms when she lost her balance; then she let out a shriek and flipped over the fountain railing, landing in the pond directly behind it. She instantly sat up and spluttered, hair falling across her face and electronic wings sparking.

"OW!" Saelind croaked, jerking her hands up and clawing at the metal on her head. "OW! OW! OW! IT'S SHOCKING ME!"

Letting out a snarl, the girl dragged the tiara off before frantically clawing at the bangles on her arms; then, muscles shaking, she struggled to get the soaked wings off of her body before throwing them on the ground. The electric-powered appendages sparked a few more times before falling still.

After a moment, Saelind looked down at herself before touching her face.

The dress she was wearing was completely drenched, and for all she knew, her make-up was probably coming undone because of the water.

"Serves you right," Ami sneered, leaning over the edge with a smirk. "You stole my mother's affection from me... but she will never, ever be your real mother."

However, when the girl turned around, she wasn't expecting to come face-to-face with a girl who looked just as angry as Saelind felt.

Before anyone could blink, Haruhi drew her hand back and slapped Ami across the face.

"Don't you ever talk to Saelind like that again," she stated calmly, lowering her hand with a level expression. "I'm done just sitting back and watching this. If anyone is ugly, Kikiroshi-san, I'm pretty sure it's you. If not on the outside, then on the inside."

"Who do you think you are?" Ami hissed, looking at her with a flinty expression. "Who are you to slap me?"

"Her family," Haruhi stated simply, ignoring her shoes and hopping the fence in order to help Saelind get her hair in order. "Now get out of here. Tamaki and the others are on their way, so if you don't want your true nature to be exposed, I'd do the smart thing for once."

Ami glowered at them, but she did as she was told and stomped off.

And by the time Haruhi and Saelind managed to slosh out of the pond, the host club members were hurrying over and the two-faced brunette was gone.

Saelind, however, was far from being content.

"I'm done," she hissed, rubbing her eyes in anger. "I can't take this crap anymore."

"I'll cover for you," Haruhi murmured, giving her a firm expression. "Just don't take too long or they'll worry."

Saelind gave her a blank stare before she nodded once and swept away, avoiding coming into contact with the Host Club and allowing Haruhi to stall them.

She needed some time to be alone, anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note:** below is a link to the song. Even better? Saelind and her brother sang it together after I paid them fifty bucks. You'd BETTER enjoy this. :) Sorry about the no copy/paste factor, but I'm sure if you REALLY want to hear it you'll type the link in manually.

h_t_t_p_s_:/soundcloud_._com_/jedediah1212/a-life-divided-feel-cover-feat-saelind-and-saelvan-thompson


	39. Chapter 38: Blast From the Past

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Blast From the Past**

After Saelind had bailed on him to get herself cleaned up and dry, Saelvan had found himself in a rather horrid predicament.

It was really the only the only thing that got under his skin.

Flirtation.

More accurately, being flirted with.

By other boys.

"So, cupcake," a boy dressed up like a police woman drawled, leaning close to the shivering Russian. "Tell me, are all vampires so cute?"

"Yeah," another boy dressed in a sexy Santa suit added, leaning across the table with a smirk on his painted lips. "I'd like to know that, too."

_Someone, get me out of this,_ Saelvan mentally chanted, leaning away from the other boys with a fairly prominent blue streak running down his forehead. _Why me?!_

"U-u-um," the boy stammered, hiding his face. "Please stop. I'm not good with stuff like this."

The guys all grinned like stupid idiots, but it was in that moment that Saelvan found his reprieve: a beautiful girl wearing a blonde wig and a school sailor outfit had sat down right next to him, fluffing her tresses before opening a compact mirror and smoothing the pink gloss on her lips. However, just as Saelvan was about to clutch her arm and ask her to take over, the blonde suddenly turned to look at him Saelvan's face turned almost completely blue when he realized the gorgeous blonde was ALSO a boy.

And not just any boy, either.

Saelvan had to keep himself from breaking out in hives when the blonde looked him up and down with appraising eyes.

"Hey there, beautiful," he breathed, fluttering his lashes, "I'm Shiro Takaoji. What's your name?"

"I-I-I'm… S-Saelvan... H-H-H-Heseroph," the Russian peeped in a small voice, face draining of color as he tried to fight back his nausea; when the sound of his shaken soprano drew some more unwanted attention from the boys around him, he felt like he was going to cry.

"Eh? Heseroph? So, that must mean you're related to the new Host I've heard so much about," the beautiful boy sighed, rolling his eyes in disappointment. "Sheesh, and everyone made me believe you were both, like, two feet tall."

"Excuse me?" Hikaru snickered, sauntering up and pointedly ignoring Saelvan's watery eyes. "What are you saying?"

"Honestly, they _are_ two feet tall," Kaoru finished, planting a hand on the black-haired boy's head. "They're not much bigger than you."

"I hate you two so much right now," Saelvan whined, shaking his head in dismay. "After tonight, I am never doing this again. Ever. I'll find some porcupines to feed myself to instead of coming with you, got it?"

Shiro sidled closer, still staring at him with mischievous eyes.

"I think you're pretty cute," he said in that creepy, husky voice of his, instantly making Vanny want a herd of porcupines right away. "For a cross-dresser, that is."

"I'm sorry, but... please don't flirt with me," Saelvan squeaked, looking for somewhere to escape while he was talking. "I... I'm not... I don't like it."

Everyone from the Host Club who knew what was going on looked too amused by his panicky behavior to help him, and when Haruhi met Saelvan's pleading eyes and awkwardly shrugged, he really wanted to cry: Shiro was still smiling at him, showing off a perfect set of pearly whites.

"But how can I not? You're very alluring," Shiro chuckled, sending shivers up Saelvan's spine. "Anyway, I'm a part time Host, so we might as well get acquainted... right?"

"No way," Saelvan snorted, staring at him with large teal eyes. "You're a host?!"

"Yup," the Hitachiin twins simultaneously droned. "He's the Naughty type."

"I'm still in elementary school, though," Shiro sighed, flapping a dismissive hand. "I just decided to visit because of the party. Never thought I'd get to meet such a cute girl."

Thankfully, it was in that moment that the boy spotted his sister waving at him from behind the stage curtain.

"Well, thank you for the compliment," Vanny murmured quietly, getting up from his seat and dusting his slacks off, "but I have to use the ladies room."

"Aw," Hikaru sighed, shaking his head. "Well, we'll be waiting for ya out here, Saelvan-chan."

Vanny shuddered, then swiftly excused himself and practically ran over to where his sister was waiting for him. After catching his breath, he stared at his twin's clothes and was mildly surprised to see her wearing a different outfit. She was currently dressed in a flowing white gown, and even though her hair was still a bit damp, it had been completely restyled. However, the left half of her face was hidden again, which made the boy blink.

"Why did you part your hair again?" Saelvan demanded, standing up and walking over with a concerned expression. "I thought..."

When he pushed her bangs out of the way, he twitched since her scars were clearly visible.

"As it turns out," Saelind murmured weakly, giving him a sad smile, "the make-up was waterproof, but the mask beneath it wasn't supposed to be totally doused."

"Oh, Lindy..." Saelvan whispered, face turning pale. "I'm so sorry!"

"Nah, it's fine," the girl sighed, giving him a soft expression. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Anyway, you looked like you needed more help than me. Those boys were totally flirting with you, and as funny as it was to watch, I figured I might as well give you an excuse to ditch them."

Saelvan jumped and looked down at himself with wide eyes.

Was he actually attractive to other boys?

Dear Lord, that was a line of thought that did _not_ need to be searched through.

"And what," Saelvan demanded in a flustered tone, "was so freaking funny about watching me get flirted with by other guys? It's utterly nightmarish on my end!"

"And that's exactly why I think it's funny," his sister snickered, rolling her visible eye. "You should seriously get used to this, bro: you're attending school as a girl."

"Oh, dear God, are you serious?!" the boy squeaked, face draining of color. "I have to find a way to avoid them for the rest of the evening."

"Nah, you should go flirt back," Saelind teased, giving him a smirk. "I'd kill to see the horror on your face if one of them tried to kiss ya or something."

"EW! Niet!" Saelvan squalled, covering his face when the girl started cackling like an old woman. "It's really not that funny!"

"On the contrary, I find it quite hilarious," Saelind chuckled, laughter dying down a little after she turned and stared at Kyouya. "You know those wings that I had on for the switcher party?

"Yeah, why?" her brother inquired with a blink.

"Well, I was wondering if you could shoulder what happened this time," she stated in a solemn tone, giving him a reluctant expression. "I want to repay the man who let me borrow them. Apparently, those wings were supposed to be used in an upcoming movie for Hollywood, and since they don't have the funds to replace them, I figured someone back home would replace them if you explained it to them."

"Consider it done," Vanny sighed, smiling at her with a broad grin. "Jeez, did ya think I'd say no?"

"Thanks, bro," Saelind murmured, looking down at the ground. "I appreciate it. Now, I'm gonna go take your place over there, since I figure you might get hit on if I don't."

Saelvan shivered and nodded in agreement: some of the boys looked like they were planning on using him for some cuddle time.

He _really_ didn't want any cuddle time.

"I'll see you later, then?" the Russian boy asked, undoing his hair and shaking it free of its ponytail. "I'll probably be leaving early. By the time you get home, dinner will be ready."

"Sounds good," Saelind murmured, already walking out into the open with her white gown slowing behind her. "Thanks again."

The boy didn't respond, simply because he was feeling somewhat amazed: for once, his twin really did look like a princess, and that kind of surprised him. Unfortunately, he didn't see the twins coming up behind him until two hands simultaneously clamped down on both of his shoulders. Letting out a high-pitched squeal, Saelvan whirled around with huge eyes and stared at the Hitachiin brothers in alarm.

"W-what are you two morons doing?!" he angrily shouted, face turning red when they laughed at his reaction. "Jerks! I'm gonna kick your butts if you keep laughing!"

"Now, now, what's with the temper, Saelvan?" an oily voice suddenly asked from behind the twins, making them halt and blink in synchronized confusion. "What did these boys ever do to you, huh, _Vanny?_ Better yet, why the hell are you hanging out with gingers now?"

"Hey!" Hikaru scoffed, blinking over his shoulder in offense. "We're redheads!"

"Not gingers," Kaoru added, frowning at the person who'd spoken. "We have souls, thanks."

However, when the twins turned around, they were surprised to see that Saelvan had whited out with an expression of shock on his face.

"No way," the Russian boy whispered, paling so drastically that the twins frowned at him; then, snapping into action, he pushed the redheads aside and found himself staring into a familiar set of hazel eyes. "Oh, God... what the hell are _you_ doing here?!"

"I'm looking for Saelind," he replied, giving him the grin that most girls would have died for. "Why?"

"Dmitri Von Nauhcht," Saelvan hissed, baring his fangs as a jolt of fury swept through him. "If I were you, I'd leave. Preferably before I do something we'll both regret."

"Cut the macho crap and tell me where to find her," Dmitri sneered, looking around the room. "We need to talk."

"Hikaru, Kaoru," the raven-haired youth stated in a low tone, making them tense, "go get Kyouya and have him escort this young man off school grounds. Right now."

"But..." Kaoru stammered, looking back and forth, "what's going-?"

"DO IT," Saelvan spat, not taking his eyes off of Dmitri; the twins instantly hurried off in search of Kyouya, not bothering to ask anymore questions. "Now... once again, if you're smart, you'll leave before they get back. If you're not, let's just say you'll have a few bruises by the time I'm done with you."

"Is that so?" Dmitri inquired, cocking an eyebrow.

By way of answer, Saelvan shifted his stance and positioned himself the way a martial artist would, teal eyes sharp and angry enough to kill.

"Well, you asked for it," the boy sighed, smirking when the dark-haired boy charged forward. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The moment Saelvan threw a punch, Dmitri gripped his wrist and used the momentum of his sprint to spin her around in a rapid circle.

"What the hell?!" the boy squeaked, eyes widening with a flash. "No way!"

He was going too fast to stop himself: Saelvan's blood turned to ice when the larger boy calmly let go of his skinny arm and flipped around in the opposite direction, nailing him in the face with a flexible corkscrew-kick that planted him flat on his back. Saelvan let out a wheeze after he hit the ground, clutching his bleeding nose and curling up into a little ball, black hair disheveled and vampire costume wrinkled.

The boy winced when Dmitri walked over and stomped on his side with a glare.

"Now, mind telling me where I can find your sister?" he demanded in a pleasant tone, smiling in a threatening manner. "I don't have all night, you know. My flight leaves in two hours."

"As if I'd tell you," Saelvan hissed, clutching his ankle with one hand before bringing his elbow down on it; a loud popping noise filled the air and the brunette jumped backwards with a yelp. "You humiliated my sister in front of everyone in the middle of a god damned amusement park! You led her on for months, making her think you cared about her, and then you ripped her heart clean out of her chest! How the hell can you expect me, her brother, to let you try and sweep her off her feet again?"

"is that why you think I'm here?" Dmitri chuckled, eyes darkening in disgust. "Fuck off. I'm here because the Duchess personally asked me to come."

Saelvan twitched and stared at him.

"Our mother is conscious?" he whispered, blinking like a startled owl. "When did she come around?!"

"How the fuck should I know?" Dmitri snorted, narrowing his eyes. "All I know is that she needs to talk to Saelind."

"What're you going to do?" Saelvan demanded, staring up at the boy with hostile eyes. "Are you going to make a scene?"

"You know me well enough to answer that yourself," the boy retorted with a smirk, finally catching sight of Saelind. "Just think back to the day I broke up with her and you'll know the answer to that question."

So saying, he started moving through the crowd until he was standing directly behind Saelind, who was grumpily conversing with a few of her regular guests.

"Gross," the black-haired girl gagged, shuddering as the girls around her laughed. "Sorry, but that sounds totally disgusting!"

"It really was," a girl dressed up as a zombie agreed with a nod, not even noticing that Dmitri was glaring down at Saelind, "but ever since, they've been going steady."

"So, you actually gave him to that harpy?" Saelind asked in surprise; then a wide grin slid across her mouth and she cackled. "Wow, you've got guts!"

"Well… what else could I have done?" the girl asked, sounding absolutely truthful. "Both of them were my friends, so it wasn't like I could pick and choose which one to help."

"I guess I understand where you're coming from," Saelind groused, hooking a strand of hair behind her ear without noticing that all of the girls had started staring at the boy standing directly behind her. "If it were me, I'd probably have done the same thing. After all, it was obvious that they liked each other, right?"

However, when none of them responded, she looked up and blinked since all of the girls were huddled together with fearful expressions on their faces.

Blinking, Saelind turned to see what they were looking at, but froze with a blank expression: black spots flashed in front of her eyes and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach: everything around her turned green with an odd ringing noise as the party faded and a half-visible amusement park overlapped everything. Shoulders shaking, Saelind tried to step backwards, but she stumbled and caught her balance on the table.

"D-Dmitri?" she choked, eye huge with outrage. "What the hell... no. Just, no."

"You look like you're doing well," Dmitri sneered, ignoring how the other girls clustered in front of Saelind protectively. "I'm guessing these little ladies are your friends?"

"Who is that guy?" one of the girls whispered into the Russian girl's ear.

"Dmitri," she replied almost robotically. "His name is Dmitri... why do you ask?"

"He's creepy, that's why I ask!" the girl replied.

"Creepy?" Saelind snorted, although she also found Dmitri creepy in a certain way. "What makes you think that?"

"His hair…" the Asian girl whispered so quietly that she barely caught it. "It makes him look homeless…"

Saelind's eyebrow twitched and she choked in an effort to contain the laughter that bubbled up her throat.

"Sael-kun?" another girl asked, brows furrowing in confusion. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah…" Saelind stuttered, still trying not to laugh. "Totally fine. Thanks."

"I see you're still still as insolent as ever…" Dmitri commented, looking down on her with a sneer. "I think it's deplorable considering your status in the political hierarchy."

"Who the fuck are you calling insolent?" Saelind instantly demanded, gently sliding past the girls and shoving him backwards. "I don't give a rat's ass what you think about me. And considering your status, you have absolutely no right to insult me! So, just get on with it. What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you," Dmitri chuckled, smirking at her in a familiar manner as he stepped forward. "But first, I've been wanting to do this for a while..."

So saying, he slid his arm behind her back, clutched the wrist she lifted to slap him in the face, and pulled her into a kiss: every single girl standing behind her gasped when Saelind froze, teal eye slowly widening with horror. Throat locking up and pupil dilating, the girl remained frozen: flashes of pain... memories... anger...

His words...

Teal eye going blank and filling with outraged tears, the girl startled struggling and kicked her legs, but her feet were no longer on the ground.

That's when instinct kicked in and she opened her mouth: Dmitri tried to french kiss her, but she merely used that as an opportunity to bite him. The moment she sank her fangs into his lower lip, he yelped and let her go, jumping backwards with outraged eyes. Saelind, on the other hand, merely wiped at her mouth with a frantic sleeve, eyes huge and muscles shaking with a combination of high-strung emotions.

"What the hell did you just do?!" Dmitri snarled, touching his lip without even realizing that the music had stopped and everyone was staring at them. "Did you bite me?!"

Saelind didn't respond, just continued wiping her mouth.

"ANSWER ME!" Dmitri shouted, angrily stomping forward with clenched fists. "DID YOU BITE ME?!"

"If the shoe fits," Saelind finally spat, turning a psychotic expression on him. "You forcibly tried to stick your tongue down my throat. Just be grateful I chose to bite your lip instead of completely biting your tongue off, because I had the opportunity to pick. Now, I would suggest getting the hell away from me before I hurt you."

"Who the hell are you talking to, huh, freak?!" Dmitri roared, face turning bright red. "Bitch, I'll file your fucking fangs!"

So saying, he lunged at the girl with outstretched arms, only to be halted by someone gripping his arm.

"Please don't fight," he stated with large, doe brown eyes. "I don't like it."

"Get off me, pipsqueak," Dmitri snarled, trying to jerk his arm free. "Let go!"

However, he wasn't expecting to see the blonde's eyes sharpen the way they did, nor was he expecting to be tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

For a long moment, the Russian brunette started up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what had happened.

Only a few moments later, however, Kyouya walked over with a smirk on his face.

"How unsightly," the boy sighed, snapping his fingers and nodding when several people wearing black uniforms came in. "I apologize to everyone for this inconvenience, but I'm afraid that a guest who wasn't invited has appeared. He'll be taking his leave now."

Dmitri frothed at the mouth as he was taken away, but Saelind merely stared at the floor with a twitching eye, looking for all the world like she was about to snap.

"Sael-kun, are you okay?" one of the girls tentatively asked. "That was really scary."

Unfortunately, the girl had no intentions of responding right away.

"I'm going home," she stated simply, turning her head with a blank teal eye. "I've had fun tonight, so thanks, but that kind of killed my mood."

Without bothering to listen to the protests that rose up, the girl made her way for the exit, battered heart being assaulted even further by the hatred she was now feeling.

And it was on this unpleasant note that Saelind's first Halloween at Ouran Academy came to an end.


	40. Chapter 39: Backfire

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: Backfire**

The walk back home was quiet.

Saelind, Haruhi, and Saelvan had all decided to leave early since the negative events had done a number on Saelind's mood: she'd gone from being semi-normal back to her blank and unfeeling state, and it had started bothering everyone how abruptly she'd detached herself after Dmitri had been escorted off school grounds. However, Haruhi didn't want to let it end on a bad note, so she pulled Vanny off to the side and waited for Saelind to pass them by.

"Hey," the brunette muttered, making the boy stare at her tiredly, "I'm taking Saelind to one of my favorite places. You can go on ahead if you want, but I don't want her first Halloween at Ouran to be a bad memory."

"If you say so," he mumbled tiredly, looking more like a zombie than a vampire. "I've gotta headache... I haven't been hit that hard in a long time."

"So I heard," Haruhi mumbled, wincing before she brushed the scratch above his eyebrow. "There were boys raging over it at the party after Dmitri left since everyone thinks that you're a girl. A lot of people saw the fight as well as the kick he nailed you with..."

"If that's the case, I implore you, please go have fun," Saelvan croaked, wobbling his way down the street with a sigh. "Tell me about everything that happened when I can actually hear properly. My ears are ringing right now."

Haruhi nodded before hurrying after Saelind; when she finally caught back up, she clutched the girl's wrist.

A small hiss met her ears, but the girl didn't turn or even twitch.

"Come with me," Haruhi murmured, ignoring the glare that landed on her face as a result. "We're going to do our own thing."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Saelind grumbled, flailing her arm as she was dragged down a random road, "but I'll pass."

"You can't," the Asian girl snorted, not even glancing back at her. "I'm forcing you to. Using blackmail."

"Of course," Saelind sighed, shoulders sagging. "How did I know?"

"You didn't," her friend retorted. "We're going to the mall."

"Oh, goody," the Russian sarcastically drawled. "The mall. Like every other emo teen in existence, I'm going 'hang' at the mall."

Haruhi didn't respond; she merely kept up an even pace until they reached a brighter part of the city. It was only nine o'clock, so the place she had in mind would be open for another three hours. However, when the two of them finally walked into a completely packed parking lot, Saelind twisted to give the taller girl a look.

"That's not a mall," the Russian deadpanned, looking a little awestruck. "Haruhi, there's a decent sized town in there."

"It's a mall," Haruhi snorted, letting out a chuckle. "As big as it is, it's definitely a mall."

"No, it isn't," Saelind scoffed, pointing at the building with a flat expression on his face. "I'm pretty sure that I could fit three replicas of my family's home in there. With room left over to walk around."

"Okay?" Haruhi snorted, frowning in puzzlement: that made absolutely no sense to her whatsoever.

"My home is huge, Haruhi," Saelind muttered, averting her eyes. "It's on par with Buckingham Palace in England."

"Okay?" Haruhi repeated; she was trying to pay attention to where she was walking. "Your point is? This place is still a mall."

"Great... so, why are we here?" Saelind muttered. "I don't really have many things I need to get."

The Japanese girl couldn't stop the urge to keep the conversation going.

"Well, I'm gonna be looking around since I need to start Christmas shopping a few months earlier," the brunette replied, wondering for a second if Saelind was going to get her anything. After a moment of thinking about it, Haruhi shrugged and walked over to a nearby vending machine to get some sodas for the two of them. "After that, we're going to my favorite spot."

Saelind didn't even notice her departure, since she had become transfixed with staring an old antique store. After a moment, she almost stepped inside, but then she froze and looked at the girl standing beside her.

"Hey, do you mind if I step in there for a bit?" the Russian girl grumpily demanded. "I've never been inside an actual antique store before."

Haruhi glanced inside and blinked, cocking her head in curiosity.

"Of course," she murmured, face splitting into a small smile. "If you really want to. I have to grab some things, though... would you mind waiting in there until I get back?"

"Whatever," Saelind muttered, sticking her tongue out and rolling her eyes, "I don't really want to leave you out here waiting while I window shop, though; that'd be rude."

"I can entertain myself if I finish before you do," Haruhi retorted, grinning as she jerked her thumb over her shoulder and pointed toward the arcade: it wasn't all that difficult to spot, considering the bright lights and loud noises coming from it. "That's actually the place I wanted to bring you to. I've had some fond memories in that Arcade."

"You could just leave and I'll catch up," Saelind suggested, frowning slightly. "It's not like I'm holding you back."

"Is that so?" the girl asked, giving a grin. "And what happens if someone decides to kidnap your little butt?"

"Oh, right, because that happens all the time," Saelind chuckled sarcastically, running a hand through her long hair. "Okay, whatever you want: I'll window shop really fast and then we can go hunt down some games. I'll try to make it fast, but something about this store feels like it's pulling me."

"All right, then," Haruhi murmured, tilting her head in perplexity. "If you say so."

Without further ado, Saelind turned and entered the mammoth antique store, visible eye widening after she did so: the room she had just entered had a domed ceiling that stretched nearly two stories up, and several gorgeous chandeliers hung from it. All around her were things from times long past... it made her feel a bit weird, honestly.

"This is weird," she murmured, walking around and looking at everything along the isles. "I get the feeling that..."

Before she could finish the thought, the temperature dropped and she felt a soft tug on her hair.

Saelind blinked and patted her hair to make sure it hadn't gotten caught on anything, but then she heard an eerie giggle and froze.

The girl instantly whirled around, but nobody was there

The isle was empty.

She wanted to get this done and over with: there would probably be plenty of time to go exploring later now that she knew where the store itself really was. However, just as she was about to turn and leave, she saw the figure again. The same little girl who'd been following her around and disappearing... the hallucination. Oddly enough, though, this time... Saelind could almost see her clearly.

She was wearing a pale pink dress with a small red bag dangling from her shoulder.

"Really? Why now?" she grumbled, closing her eyes and counting to ten. "Ugh, this has been happening too much lately."

However, this time, when she opened her eyes... the apparition hadn't disappeared.

In fact, it had only moved farther away and was now standing in the center of an isle crossing, facing her. Saelind's eye slowly widened when the store isle seemed to zoom in a dizzying fashion; almost immediately, her ears started ringing, and for some reason unknown to her, she felt as though she were unable to do anything aside from move forward.

Towards the apparition.

Even as she took the first step, the little girl slowly lifted her hand and pointed to the isle parallel to her body before vanishing.

With a loud rushing noise, the store isle abruptly returned to normal, and Saelind took a gasping breath.

Her entire body was covered in perspiration, and her face had drained of all color.

However... with a thumping heart, she swallowed and moved forward, muscles shaking. Turning her head and peering in the direction the child had pointed, she jumped: the little girl was standing a good distance away, but now her other hand was raised and she was pointing down another isle. She felt as though the child were leading her somewhere.

Although, considering she was in a store and most likely going insane, she didn't really think it was a good thing.

"I don't like this," Saelind grunted, muscles involuntarily jumping when the girl vanished a second time. "Something just feels wrong."

Regardless, that didn't stop her from moving forward and peering down the isle the child had pointed to.

She wasn't a blonde ditz, so if something jumped out at her, she felt like she was perfectly capable of taking it on.

Once again, the little apparition was there, pointing her in an unknown direction: Saelind followed her halfway through the store, feeling increasingly disturbed by the situation that was playing out. However, just as she was about to turn around and stop following, she arrived at the last spot: instead of appearing in an isle crossing, the child was standing in the middle of the isle and pointing at something on a shelf. When she tilted her head to the side, Saelind stiffened since her dark hair shifted.

A part of her had been expecting to see a typical dead-looking Japanese ghost girl.

After all, with the location and long black hair, she'd figured the ghost would have at least been Asian.

Instead, two Caucasian jade green eyes had locked on her face.

Then the child was gone.

Saelind swallowed and looked around before humoring herself a little; figuring she was just having a vivid hallucination, the girl stepped forward and peered at the shelf the child had been pointing to. However, she blinked when she saw a beautiful rosewood music box with an odd-looking carving of two babies holding hands on the top. A weird sense of Deja Vu immediately smacked into Saelind's gut.

"What the hell is going on here?" she wondered, pulling the music box off the shelf and staring at it with furrowed brows. "Why do I recognize this thing? I know I've never seen it before, but it's familiar for some reason. Perhaps I met the designer...?"

That didn't feel right at all.

Somehow, she recognized it... and when she opened the box and a tune started playing, the feeling grew into knowledge. It was haunting, and completely familiar even though the rational part of her was screaming that she'd never heard the melody before. Saelind stared at the music box, feeling the world around her growing hazy as that slow, haunting, and somewhat melancholy tune floated through the air of the antique store. Unbidden, she had another flash of being outside...

_Two dark hands... a tall figure... a... black splotch...? _

Pupil dilating, her hands slipped and the music box fell to the floor, almost in slow motion.

When it shattered on the ground, Saelind could only stand there, shaking, with something important just on the tip of her memory.

"What is this?" she whispered, slowly turning her head and looking down at the music box. "I don't like this... why can't I...?"

She paused when she saw a slip of paper sticking out of the corner of the music box. Blinking, Saelind slowly leaned down and gently tugged it out before lifting it up and peering at it. From what she could see, it was an old family photograph: there were a total of twelve people standing in the photo, and three families based on what she could see.

On the far left, an Asian man and a beautiful blonde woman were standing together with a small blonde boy in their arms; they were all smiling happily at the camera. In the center was another Asian man standing beside a plump brunette with a small baby boy being held in her right arm; a little girl was clinging to her left with a big, goofy grin. However, the last family was the most shocking.

A gorgeous blonde woman with regal green eyes was standing together with a man who ha jet black hair and ocean blue eyes: each of them were holding a baby with a shock of black hair in one arm, and their free arms were resting on the shoulders of a little girl who looked to be around three or four. It was the little girl from her hallucination.

And not only that, she recognized the other families as well.

This was a photo of the Suoh family, the Kikiroshi family, and the Heseroph family.

"Oh, my God," Saelind whispered, covering her mouth in shock before she paused and stared at the dark-haired girl. "Hold on... if that's my family, who the heck _is_ that girl?"

Truth be told, she didn't know.

But for some reason, she also had a deep-set feeling that she should have.

Backing away from the busted music box, Saelind turned and walked out of the isle. She wanted to pretend like she hadn't seen anything, but unfortunately, the tune from the music box was stuck in her head. Ironically, after heading over to the arcade, Haruhi had gotten some tokens and started playing a wonderfully old-fashioned Pac-Man machine. She was doing pretty good job of it too, considering she didn't hear Saelind coming up beside her and standing there for a good fifteen minutes.

"Go, Haruhi, go," the Russian girl suddenly breathed. "Eat that ghost."

She nearly jumped right out of her skin.

"That was fast," the brunette muttered, ignoring the goosebumps rising on her arms as she continued to play.

"Well, would you believe that I got immersed in staring at an old antique? Because I did," Saelind sighed, then paused for a moment and rested her hip against the game. "So, is this two-player?"

"Yes, actually," Haruhi murmured, clapping once she beat another level. "You can hop on right now!"

"Okay," Saelind sighed, moving to the other joystick and looking at the screen when she smacked the button. "I suck at video games, though. Fair warning, I might use up all your lives."

"I'll keep us alive," the Asian girl laughed. "Here we go! Good luck, partner!"

They didn't leave the arcade for another hour.

Saelind actually got really into the game, screaming, shouting, and eating ghosts with Haruhi using all of her focus. After the two of them finally died, they played one of those stupid shooting games—and Saelind won.

By a lot.

However, when Haruhi got a text from Ranka asking about dinner, she sighed since she'd completely forgotten.

"Well, do you want to head home?" the brunette asked, glancing at her tiny friend. "My dad is asking about supper."

"Yeah, we can go," Saelind murmured, giving a shrug before she looked up at her; however, Haruhi's heart fluttered with shock and she blinked since the girl's eye softened. Then, ever so slowly, her lips pulled upwards into a small smile. "Still, thank you... I know what you were trying to do, and as much as I hate to admit it, it kind of worked. I feel better now."

"R-really?" Haruhi asked, biting her lip when the girl gruffly looked away. "So, I was able to help?"

"For once," the Russian girl allowed, giving a sigh. "Don't let it go to your head, though."

"I won't," Haruhi replied softly, averting her amber eyes. "I'm just glad you're feeling better. I was worried earlier."

Saelind rolled her eyes and made her way towards the exit with the brunette following close behind. The raven-haired Host walked ahead of her, long hair swirling in the wind. Haruhi felt like she needed to say something, but there was nothing to say.

That is, until a car backfired.

Faster than she could blink, Saelind whirled around and tackled Haruhi with all of her strength, hitting the brown-haired girl so hard in the stomach that she actually managed to achieve the impossible and knocked the wind out her. Haruhi's skinny arms instantly clamped around the smaller girl's body, shielding her from the concrete when they rolled behind a huge truck. However, she swore that her heart stopped for almost three seconds when she saw Saelind's hysterical teal eye and chalky face.

"S-Saelind?!" she whispered; she squeaked and shivered when the girl covered her mouth and put her head down. "Mff!"

The dark-haired girl trembled and tilted her head to the side, looking as though she were listening for any other sound. Haruhi stayed quiet, waiting for her friend to calm down since there was obviously nothing else she could do. Eventually, the Russian rolled off of Haruhi... but instead of standing up, she shifted over to the edge of the truck and carefully peered around, teal eye flashing around the parking lot. However, when the car backfired again as it was passing, the girl twitched before her shoulders sagged and started shaking.

"Thank God," she whispered, planting her palms on the ground and letting out a huff of air. "It was a car... it was only a car."

"What was all that about?!" Haruhi demanded, crawling over and staring at her with serious eyes. "You scared the hell out of me!"

Saelind stiffened before she turned a sharp eye on her.

"Don't worry about it," she stated in a warning tone. "It was a mistake, nothing more."

Haruhi blinked and furrowed her brows until she remembered what the girl had said about people going after her brother.

A car backfiring... oh, God.

Had Saelind thought someone was taking a shot at them?!

That was something she couldn't even begin to imagine, and the very thought frightened her.

"S-Sael-chan?!" Haruhi stammered worriedly. "Did... did you think someone was shooting a GUN?!"

The second she asked, the girl's head snapped up.

"I said don't _worry_ about it!" Saelind barked. "Even if they were, I wouldn't let them kill you! Dumbass!"

Haruhi froze and pulled back for a second, mind going numb when Saelind touched her chest with shivering limbs.

"Saelind," Haruhi said again, shifting so that she was sitting cross legged. "It's okay."

"How is this okay?" the girl hissed, turning and giving her a flinty expression. "The threat is very real, Haruhi. One of these days, someone might actually take a shot at me or my brother. If they miss, the bullet could very well hit someone else if they're close enough to me."

"Oh," Haruhi mumbled, not really knowing what else to say. "I see."

Despite the fact that Saelind looked somewhat calm now, her shudders hadn't disappeared and she was still breathing harshly.

Then her head slowly tipped forward and she momentarily covered her face with her hands, letting out a surprised groan.

"Ow…" she whined. "I feel like someone hit my face with a brick."

"Well, actually it was my stomach," Haruhi answered quietly, "and you smacked your face on it all by yourself."

Saelind's mouth twitched with a barely-suppressed smirk; shaking her head as if clearing away a fog, she stood up and offered a hand to Haruhi, who stared at it with confused eyes. She was hesitant about touching the girl now, and she didn't like that feeling at all. However, when he looked up and saw the girl's sharp teal eye staring down at her face, she found herself taking her hand anyway.

"Are you okay?" Haruhi murmured quietly. "You kind of scared me there."

"Yeah," she murmured, even though she was still shaking slightly. "I-I just hate… when things like this happen."

Haruhi stayed quiet for a moment: she secretly felt that the girl's words held a double meaning.

"Hey, let's go back to my place and have dinner together with my dad and your brother," Haruhi sighed, shaking her head. "I'm the sure the guys are hungry, so we might as well go make some chow for them."

"Sure," Saelind grumbled, dusting her clothes off and walking ahead once again. "I have no qualms about that. I'm hungry, too."

Thus, the two of them went back to the Fujioka home.

Sadly, though, Haruhi couldn't help but feel like something dark was looming over the horizon.

She didn't know why she felt this way, but she did.

But she hid that feeling deep inside her with the thought that worrying wouldn't get her anywhere.


End file.
